Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd (Arabic: أبو إسحاق محمد بن هارون الرشيد‎‎; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal nameal-Muʿtaṣim bi’llāh (المعتصم بالله, "he who seeks refuge in God"), was the eighth Abbasidcaliph, ruling from 833 to his death in 842.[1] A younger son of Harun al-Rashid, he rose to prominence through his formation of a private army composed predominantly of Turkish slave-soldiers (ghilmān). This proved useful to his half-brother, Caliph al-Ma'mun, who made use of al-Mu'tasim and his Turkish guard to counterbalance other powerful interest groups in the state, as well as employing them in campaigns against rebels and the Byzantine Empire. When al-Ma'mun died unexpectedly on campaign in August 833, al-Mu'tasim was thus well placed to succeed him, overriding the claims of his nephew, al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun.

Al-Mu'tasim continued many of his brother's policies, like the partnership with the Tahirids, who ruled Khurasan and Baghdad on behalf of the Abbasids. With the support of the powerful chief qādī, Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, he continued to implement the doctrine of Mu'tazilism and the persecution of its opponents through the inquisition (miḥna). Although personally disinterested in literary pursuits, al-Mu'tasim also nurtured the scientific renaissance begun under al-Ma'mun; in other ways, however, his reign marks a departure and a watershed moment in Islamic history, with the creation of a new regime centred on the military, and particularly his Turkish guard. In 836, a new capital was established at Samarra to symbolize this new regime and remove it from the restive populace of Baghdad, the power of the caliphal government was increased by centralizing measures that reduced the power of provincial governors in favour of a small group of senior civil and military officials in Samarra, and the fiscal apparatus of the state was more and more dedicated to the maintenance of the professional army, which was dominated by the Turks. The Arab and Iranian elites that had played a major role in the early period of the Abbasid state were increasingly marginalized, and an abortive conspiracy against al-Mu'tasim in favour of al-Abbas in 838 resulted in a widespread purge of their ranks, this strengthened the position of the Turks and their principal leaders, Ashinas, Wasif, Itakh, and Bugha. Another prominent member of al-Mu'tasim's inner circle, the prince of Ushrusana, al-Afshin, fell foul of his enemies at court and was overthrown and killed in 840/1, the rise of the Turks would eventually result in the troubles of the "Anarchy at Samarra" and lead to the collapse of Abbasid power in the mid-10th century, but the ghilmān-based system inaugurated by al-Mu'tasim would be widely adopted throughout the Muslim world.

Al-Mu'tasim's reign was also marked by continuous warfare, his generals led the fight against internal rebellions. The two major internal campaigns of the reign were against the long-running Khurramite uprising of Babak Khorramdin in Adharbayjan, which was suppressed by al-Afshin in 835–837, and against Mazyar, the autonomous ruler of Tabaristan, who had clashed with the Tahirids and risen up in revolt. Al-Mu'tasim himself led a major campaign in 838 against the Byzantine Empire, with his armies defeating Emperor Theophilos and sacking the city of Amorium. The Amorium campaign was widely celebrated, and became a cornerstone of caliphal propaganda, cementing al-Mu'tasim's reputation as a warrior-caliph.

Muhammad, the future al-Mu'tasim, was born in the Khuld ("Eternity") Palace in Baghdad, but the exact date is unclear: according to the 10th-century historian al-Tabari, his birth was placed by various authorities either in Sha'banAH 180, i.e. October 796, or in AH 179 (i.e. spring 796 or earlier).[2] His parents were the Caliph Harun al-Rashid (ruled 786–809) and Marida, an otherwise unknown slave concubine. Marida was born in Kufa, but her family hailed from Soghdia, and she is usually considered to have been of Turkic origin.[1][3] As an adult, including during his caliphate, he was commonly called by his kunya, Abu Ishaq.[4] Al-Tabari describes the adult Abu Ishaq as "fair-complexioned, with a black beard the hair tips of which were red and the end of which was square and streaked with red, and with handsome eyes". Other authors stress his physical strength and his love for physical activity—an anecdote recalls how during the Amorium campaign he went ahead of the army riding on a mule and searched in person for a shallow crossing-point across a river—in stark contrast to his more sedentary predecessors and successors. Later authors claim he was almost illiterate, but as the historian Hugh Kennedy comments, this "would have been most improbable for an Abbasid prince", and most likely simply reflects his disinterest in intellectual pursuits.[5][6]

As one of Harun's younger sons, Abu Ishaq was initially of little consequence, and did not figure in the line of succession,[7] during the civil war between his elder half-brothers al-Amin (r. 809–813) and al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833) he remained in Baghdad, and, like most members of the Abbasid dynasty and the Abbasid aristocracy (abnāʾ al-dawla), he supported the anti-caliph Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi in 817–819.[8] Al-Tabari records that Abu Ishaq led the Hajj pilgrimage in 816, accompanied by many troops and officials, among whom was Hamdawayh ibn Ali ibn Isa ibn Maham, who had just been appointed to the governorship of the Yemen and was on his way there. During his stay in Mecca, his troops defeated and captured a pro-Alid leader who had raided the pilgrim caravans,[9] he also led the pilgrimage in the next year, but no details are known.[10]

Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, from the Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas of Gustav Droysen (1886)

From ca. 814/5, Abu Ishaq began forming his corps of Turkish troops. The first members of the corps were domestic slaves he bought in Baghdad (the distinguished general Itakh was originally a cook) whom he trained in the art of war, but they were soon complemented by Turkish slaves sent directly from Central Asia after an agreement with the local Samanid rulers. This private force was small—it probably numbered between three and four thousand at the time of his accession—but it was highly trained and disciplined, and made Abu Ishaq a man of power in his own right, as al-Ma'mun increasingly turned to him for assistance.[11] Abu Ishaq's Turkish corps was also politically useful to al-Ma'mun, who tried to lessen his own dependence on the mostly eastern Iranian leaders who had supported him in the civil war, and who now occupied the senior positions in the new regime; in an effort to counterbalance their influence, al-Ma'mun granted formal recognition to his brother and his Turkish corps, as well as placing the Arab tribal levies of the Mashriq in the hands of his own son, al-Abbas.[12]

The nature and identity of al-Mu'tasim's "Turkish slave soldiers" is a controversial subject, with both the ethnic label and the slave status of its members disputed, although the bulk of the corps were clearly of servile origin, being either captured in war or purchased as slaves, in the Arabic historical sources they are never referred to as slaves (mamlūk or ʿabid), but rather as mawālī ("clients" or "freedmen") or ghilmān ("pages"), implying that they were manumitted, a view reinforced by the fact that they were paid cash salaries.[13][14] In addition, although the corps are collectively called simply "Turks", atrāk, in the sources,[13] prominent early members were neither Turks nor slaves, but rather Iranian vassal princes from Central Asia like al-Afshin, prince of Usrushana, who were followed by their personal retinues (Persian chakar, Arabic shākiriyya).[15][16][17]

Al-Tabari mentions that in 819 Abu Ishaq commanded a force sent against some Kharijite rebels, during this campaign, one of the Turkish ghilmān placed himself between a Kharijite lancer and the future caliph, shouting, "Recognize me!" (in Persian "ashinas ma-ra"). To express his appreciation, Abu Ishaq on that same day granted this man the name Ashinas.[18]

In 828, al-Ma'mun appointed Abu Ishaq as governor of Egypt and Syria in place of Abdallah ibn Tahir, who departed to assume the governorship of Khurasan, while the Jazira and the frontier zone (thughūr) with the Byzantine Empire passed to al-Abbas.[15][19] Egypt had just been brought back under caliphal authority and pacified after the tumults of the civil war by Ibn Tahir,[20] but the situation remained volatile. When Abu Ishaq's governor, Umayr ibn al-Walid, tried to raise taxes, the Nile Delta and Hawf regions rose in revolt; in 830, Umayr tried to forcibly subdue the rebels, but was ambushed and killed along with many of his troops. With the government troops now confined to the capital Fustat, Abu Ishaq intervened in person, at the head of his 4,000 Turks, the rebels were soundly defeated and their leaders executed.[21][22] In 831, however, soon after his departure, the revolt flared up again, this time encompassing both the Arab settlers and the native Christian Copts under the leadership of Ibn Ubaydus, a descendant of one of the original Arab conquerors of the country, the rebels were confronted by the Turks, led by al-Afshin. Al-Afshin conducted a systematic campaign, winning a string of victories and engaging in large-scale executions: the male Copts were executed and their women and children sold into slavery, while the old Arab elites who had ruled the country since the Muslim conquest of Egypt were practically annihilated; in early 832, al-Ma'mun came to Egypt, and soon after that the last bastion of resistance, the Copts of the coastal marshes, were subdued.[22][23]

In July–September 830, al-Ma'mun, encouraged by perceived Byzantine weakness and suspicious of collusion between Emperor Theophilos and the Khurramite rebels of Babak Khorramdin, launched the first large-scale invasion of Byzantine territory since the start of the Abbasid civil war, and sacked a number of Byzantine border fortresses.[24][25] Following his return from Egypt, Abu Ishaq joined al-Ma'mun in his 831 campaign against the Byzantines, after rebuffing Theophilos' offers of peace, the Abbasid army crossed the Cilician Gates and divided into three columns, with the Caliph, his son al-Abbas, and Abu Ishaq at their head. The Abbasids seized and destroyed several minor forts as well as the town of Tyana, while al-Abbas even won a minor skirmish against Theophilos in person, before withdrawing to Syria in September;[26][27] in 832 al-Ma'mun repeated his invasion of the Byzantine borderlands, capturing the strategically important fortress of Loulon, a success that consolidated Abbasid control of both exits of the Cilician Gates.[28] So encouraged was al-Ma'mun by this victory that he repeatedly rejected Theophilos' ever more generous offers for peace, and publicly announced that he intended to capture Constantinople itself. Consequently, al-Abbas was dispatched in May to convert the deserted town of Tyana into a military colony and prepare the ground for the westwards advance. Al-Ma'mun followed in July, but he suddenly fell ill and died on 7 August 833.[29][30]

Al-Ma'mun had made no official provisions for his succession, his son, al-Abbas, was old enough and had acquired experience in the border wars with the Byzantines, but had not been named heir.[7] According to the account in al-Tabari, on his deathbed, al-Ma'mun dictated a letter nominating his brother, rather than al-Abbas, as his successor,[31] and Abu Ishaq was acclaimed as Caliph on 9 August, with the name of al-Mu'tasim,[32] it is impossible to know whether this reflects actual events, or whether the letter was an invention and Abu Ishaq merely took advantage of his proximity to his dying brother, and al-Abbas's absence elsewhere, to propel himself to the throne. As Abu Ishaq was the forefather of all subsequent Abbasid caliphs, historians had little desire to question the legitimacy of his accession, but it is clear that his position was far from secure: a large part of the army favoured al-Abbas, and a delegation of soldiers even went to him and tried to proclaim him as the new Caliph. Only when al-Abbas himself refused, whether out of weakness or out of a desire to avoid a civil war, and himself took the oath of allegiance to his uncle, did the soldiers acquiesce to al-Mu'tasim's succession,[33][34] the precariousness of his position is further evidenced by the fact that al-Mu'tasim immediately called off the expedition, abandoned the Tyana project and returned with his army to Baghdad, which he reached on 20 September.[35][36][37]

Whatever the true background of his accession, al-Mu'tasim owed his rise to the throne not only to his strong personality and leadership skills, but principally to the fact that he was the only Abbasid prince to control independent military power in the form of his Turkish corps.[11] Unlike his brother, who tried to use the tribal Arabs and the Turks to balance out the Iranian troops, al-Mu'tasim relied almost exclusively on his Turks; the historian Tayeb El-Hibri describes al-Mu'tasim's regime as "militaristic and centred on the Turkish corps".[16][38] The rise of al-Mu'tasim to the caliphate thus heralded a radical change in the nature of Abbasid administration, with the eclipse of the previous Arab and Iranian elites, both in Baghdad and the provinces, in favour of the Turkish military, and an increasing centralization of administration around the caliphal court. A characteristic example is that of Egypt, where the Arab settler families, who still nominally formed the country's army (jund) and continued to receive a salary from the local revenues. Al-Mu'tasim discontinued the practice, removing the Arab families from the army registers (diwān) and ordering that the revenues of Egypt be sent to the central government, which would then pay a cash salary (ʿaṭāʾ) only to the Turkish troops stationed in the province.[39] Another departure from previous practice was al-Mu'tasim's appointment of his senior lieutenants, such as Ashinas or Itakh, as nominal super-governors over several provinces, this measure was probably intended to allow his chief followers immediate access to funds with which to pay their troops, but also, according to Hugh Kennedy, "represented a further centralizing of power, for the under-governors of the provinces seldom appeared at court and played little part in the making of political decisions".[40] Indeed, al-Mu'tasim's caliphate marks the apogee of the central government's authority, in particular as expressed in its right and power to extract taxes from the provinces, an issue that had been controversial and had faced much local opposition since the early days of the Islamic state.[40]

The one exception to this process were the Tahirids, who remained in place as autonomous governors of their Khurasani super-province, encompassing most of the eastern Caliphate; in addition, the Tahirids provided the governor of Baghdad, and helped to keep the city, a focus of opposition to the Caliph under al-Ma'mun, quiescent. The post was held throughout al-Mu'tasim's reign by Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab, who, according to the Orientalist C. E. Bosworth, was "always one of al-Mu'tasim's closest advisers and confidants".[1][41] Apart from the Turkish military and the Tahirids, al-Mu'tasim's administration depended on the central fiscal bureaucracy, as the main source of revenue were the rich lands of southern Iraq (the Sawad) and neighbouring areas, the administration was staffed mostly with men drawn from these regions. The new caliphal bureaucratic class that emerged under al-Mu'tasim were thus mostly Persian or Aramean in origin, with a large proportion of newly converted Muslims and even a few Nestorian Christians, who came from landowner or merchant families,[42] on his accession, al-Mu'tasim appointed as his chief minister or vizier his old personal secretary, al-Fadl ibn Marwan. A man trained in the traditions of the Abbasid bureaucracy, he was distinguished for his caution and frugality, and tried to shore up the finances of the state, these traits eventually caused his downfall, when he refused to authorize the Caliph's gifts to his courtiers on grounds that the treasury could not afford it. He was dismissed in 836, but was lucky enough not to suffer further punishment other than being sent into exile to the village of al-Sinn,[43][44] his replacement, Muhammad ibn al-Zayyat, was of a completely different character: a rich merchant, he is described by Kennedy as "a competent financial expert but a callous and brutal man who made many enemies", even among his fellow members of the administration. Nevertheless, and even though his political authority never exceeded the fiscal domain, he managed to maintain his office throughout the reign, and under al-Mu'tasim's successor al-Wathiq (r. 842–847) as well.[1][45]

Al-Mu'tasim's reliance on his Turkish ghilmān grew over time, especially in the aftermath of an abortive plot against him discovered in 838, during the Amorium campaign. Headed by Ujayf ibn Anbasa, a long-serving Khurasani who had followed al-Ma'mun since the civil war against al-Amin, the conspiracy rallied the traditional Abbasid elites, dissatisfied with al-Mu'tasim's policies and especially his favouritism towards to the Turks. Discontent with the latter grew due to their servile origin, which offended the Abbasid aristocracy; their mood is conveyed by al-Tabari, who reports two of the leading conspirators, Amr al-Farghani and Ahmad ibn al-Khalil ibn Hisham, grumbling about being humbled by Ashinas, "this slave, the son of a whore", and that they would rather defect to the Byzantines than continue to serve under him. The plotters aimed to kill the Caliph and raise al-Ma'mun's son al-Abbas in his stead. According to al-Tabari, al-Abbas, although privy to these designs, rejected Ujayf's urgent suggestions to kill al-Mu'tasim during the initial stages of the campaign for fear of appearing to undermine the jihad; in the event, Ashinas grew suspicious of al-Farhgani and Ibn Hisham, and the plot was soon uncovered. Al-Abbas was imprisoned, and the Turkish leaders Ashinas, Itakh, and Bugha the Elder undertook to discover and arrest the other conspirators, the affair was the signal for a large-scale purge of the army that Kennedy describes as "of almost Stalinesque ruthlessness". Al-Abbas was forced to die of thirst, while his male offspring were arrested, and likely executed, by Itakh, the other leaders of the conspiracy were likewise executed in ingenious and excessively cruel ways, which were widely publicized as a deterrent to others. According to the Kitab al-'Uyun, some seventy commanders and soldiers were executed, including some Turks.[46][47][48]

As the historian Matthew Gordon points out, these events are probably connected to the disappearance of the abnāʾ from the historical record, and correspondingly they must have increased the standing of the Turks and their chief commanders, particularly Ashinas: in 839, his daughter, Utranja, was wed to the son of al-Afshin, and in 840, al-Mu'tasim appointed him as his deputy during his absence from Baghdad, and when he returned, he publicly placed him on a throne and had him crowned. In the same year, Ashinas was appointed to a super-governorate over the provinces of Egypt, Syria, and the Jazira. When Ashinas participated in the Hajj of 841, he received honours on every stop of the route;[49][50] in 840, it was the turn of al-Afshin to fall victim to the Caliph's suspicions. Despite his distinguished service as a general, he was very much the "odd man out" in the Samarran elite; the relations of the Iranian prince with the low-born Turkish generals were marked by mutual antipathy. Furthermore, he alienated the Tahirids, who might under other circumstances have been his natural allies, by interfering in Tabaristan, where he allegedly encouraged the local autonomous ruler, Mazyar, to reject Tahirid control (see below).[51] Al-Tabari reports a number of other allegations against al-Afshin: that he was plotting to poison al-Mu'tasim, or that he was planning to escape to his native Ushrusana with vast sums of money.[52] According to Kennedy, the very variety of allegations against al-Afshin is grounds for skepticism about their truthfulness, and it is likely that he was framed by his enemies at court.[51] Whatever the truth, these allegations discredited al-Afshin in the eyes of al-Mu'tasim, he was dismissed from his position in the caliphal bodyguard (al-ḥaras),[53] and a show trial was held at the palace, where he was confronted with a variety of witnesses, including Mazyar. Al-Afshin was accused, among other things, of being a false Muslim, and of being accorded divine status by his subjects in Ushrusana, despite putting up an able and eloquent defence, al-Afshin was found guilty and thrown into prison. He died soon after, either of starvation or of poison; his body was publicly gibbeted in front of the palace gates, burned, and thrown in the Tigris.[54][55] Once more, the affair enhanced the standing of the Turkish leadership, and particularly Wasif, who now received al-Afshin's revenue and possessions.[56]

Nevertheless, it seems that al-Mu'tasim was not entirely satisfied with the men he had raised to power. An anecdote dating from his last years, relayed by Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab, recalls how the Caliph, in an intimate exchange with Ishaq, lamented that he had made poor choices in this regard: while his brother al-Ma'mun had nurtured four excellent servants in the Tahirids, he himself had raised al-Afshin, who was dead; Ashinas, "a feeble heart and a coward"; Itakh, "who is totally insignificant"; and Wasif, "an unprofitable servant". Ishaq himself then suggested that this was because, while al-Ma'mun had used men with local connections and influence, al-Mu'tasim had used men with no roots in the Muslim community, to which the Caliph sadly assented.[57][58]

The Turkish army was at first quartered in Baghdad, but quickly came into conflict with the remnants of the old Abbasid establishment in the city and the city's populace, the latter resented their loss of influence and career opportunities to the foreign troops, who were furthermore often undisciplined and violent, spoke no Arabic, and were either recent converts to Islam or still pagans. Violent episodes between the populace and the Turks thus became more and more common.[59]

This was a major factor in al-Mu'tasim's decision in 836 to found a new capital at Samarra, some 80 miles (130 km) north of Baghdad, but there were other considerations at play as well. Founding a new capital was a public statement of the establishment of a new regime, and according to Tayeb El-Hibri allowed the court to exist "at a distance from the populace of Baghdad and protected by a new guard of foreign troops, and amid a new royal culture revolving around sprawling palatial grounds, public spectacle and a seemingly ceaseless quest for leisurely indulgence", an arrangement compared by Oleg Grabar to the relationship between Paris and Versailles after Louis XIV.[60][61] In addition, by creating a new city in a previously uninhabited area, al-Mu'tasim could reward his followers with land and commercial opportunities without cost to himself and free from any constraints, unlike Baghdad with its established interest groups and high property prices; in fact, the sale of land seems to have produced considerable profit for the treasury—in the words of Kennedy, "a sort of gigantic property speculation in which both government and its followers could expect to benefit".[60]

Space and life in the new capital were strictly regimented: residential areas were separated from the markets, and the military was given its own cantonments, separated from the ordinary populace and each the home of a specific ethnic contingent of the army (e.g. the Turks, Faraghina, Maghariba and Shakiriyya regiments). The city was dominated by its mosques (most famous among which is the Great Mosque of Samarra built by Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 848–852) and palaces, built in grand style by both the caliphs and their senior commanders, who were given extensive properties to develop.[60][62] Unlike Baghdad, however, the new capital was an entirely artificial creation. Poorly sited in terms of water supply and river communications, its existence was determined solely by the presence of the caliphal court, and when the capital returned to Baghdad, sixty years later, Samarra was rapidly abandoned.[63] Due to this fact, the ruins of the Abbasid capital are still present on site, and the city can be mapped with great accuracy by modern archaeologists.[64]

Ideologically, al-Mu'tasim followed the footsteps of al-Ma'mun, continuing his predecessor's support for Mu'tazilism, a theological doctrine that attempted to tread a middle way between secular monarchy and the theocratic nature of rulership espoused by the Alids and the various sects of Shi'ism. Mu'tazilis espoused the view that the Quran was created and hence fell within the authority of a God-guided imām to interpret according to the changing circumstances. While revering Ali, they avoided taking a position on the righteousness of the opposing sides in the conflict between Ali and his opponents.[65] Mu'tazilism was officially adopted by al-Ma'mun in 827, and in 833, shortly before his death, al-Ma'mun made its doctrines compulsory, with the establishment of an inquisition, the miḥna, during his brother's reign, al-Mu'tasim played an active role in the enforcement of the miḥna in the western provinces, and continued on the same course after his accession: the chief advocate of Mu'tazilism, the head qādīAhmad ibn Abi Duwad, was perhaps the dominant influence at the caliphal court throughout al-Mu'tasim's reign.[66][67][68]

Thus Mu'tazilism became closely identified with the new regime of al-Mu'tasim, and adherence to Mu'tazilism was transformed into an intensely political issue, since to question it was to oppose the authority of the Caliph as the God-sanctioned imām. While Mu'tazilism found broad support, it was also passionately opposed by traditionalists, who held that the Quran's authority was absolute and unalterable as the literal word of God, as well as providing a vehicle for criticism by those who disliked the new regime and its elites;[69] in the event, the active repression of the traditionalists was without success, and even proved counterproductive: the beating and imprisonment of one of the most resolute opponents of Mu'tazilism, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, in 834, only helped to spread his fame. By the time al-Mutawakkil abandoned Mu'tazilism and returned to traditional orthodoxy in 848, the strict and conservative Hanbali school had emerged as the leading school of jurisprudence (fiqh) in Sunni Islam.[67][70]

As a military man, al-Mu'tasim's outlook was utilitarian, and his intellectual pursuits could not be compared with those of al-Ma'mun or his successor al-Wathiq, but he continued his brother's policy of promoting writers and scholars.[71] Baghdad remained a major centre of learning throughout his reign, among the notable scholars active during his reign were the astronomers Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi and Ahmad al-Farghani,[72] the polymath al-Jahiz,[73] and the distinguished Arab mathematician and philosopher al-Kindi, who dedicated his work On First Philosophy to his patron al-Mu'tasim.[74]

Although al-Mu'tasim's reign was a time of peace in the Caliphate's heartland territories, al-Mu'tasim himself was an energetic campaigner, and according to Kennedy "acquired the reputation of being one of the warrior-caliphs of Islam",[75] with the exception of the Amorium campaign, most of the military expeditions of al-Mu'tasim's reign were domestic, directed against rebels and areas that, although nominally part of the Caliphate, had remained outside effective Muslim rule and where native peoples and princes retained de facto autonomy.[75] The three great campaigns of the reign, Amorium, and the expeditions against the Khurramite rebellion and against Mazyar, ruler of Tabaristan, were in part also a conscious propaganda exercise, in which al-Mu'tasim could solidify his regime's legitimacy in the eyes of the populace by leading the war against the infidels.[76]

An Alid revolt led by Muhammad ibn Qasim broke out in Khurasan in early 834, but was swiftly defeated and Muhammad brought as a prisoner to the Caliph's court, he managed to escape during the night of 8/9 October 834, taking advantage of the Eid al-Fitr festivities, and was never heard of again.[77] In June/July of the same year, 'Ujayf ibn 'Anbasa was sent to subdue the Zutt, these were people brought from India by the Sassanid emperors and settled in the Mesopotamian Marshes. The Zutt had rebelled against caliphal authority since c. 820, and had been regularly raiding the environs of Basra and Wasit since that time. 'Ujayf was successful in encircling the Zutt and forcing them to surrender after a seven-month campaign, making a triumphal entry into Baghdad in January 835 with his numerous captives. Many of the Zutt were then sent to Ayn Zarba on the Byzantine frontier, where they fell fighting against the Byzantines.[78][79]

The first major campaign of the new reign was directed against the Khurramites in Adharbayjan and Arran.[1] The Khurramite revolt had been going on since 816/7, aided by the inaccessible mountains of the province and the absence of large Arab Muslim population centres, except for a few cities in the lowlands. Al-Ma'mun had left the local Muslims largely to their own devices, although a succession of military commanders tried to subdue the rebellion on their own initiative, and thus gain control of the country's newly discovered mineral resources, only to be defeated by the Khurramites under the capable leadership of Babak.[80] Immediately after his accession, al-Mu'tasim sent the Tahirid ṣāḥib al-shurṭa of Baghdad and Samarra, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab, to deal with an expansion of the Khurramite rebellion from Jibal into Hamadan. Ishaq achieved success swiftly, and by December 833 had suppressed the rebellion, forcing many Khurramites to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire,[81] it was only in 835 that al-Mu'tasim took action against Babak himself, when he assigned his trusted and capable lieutenant, al-Afshin, to command the campaign against him. After three years of cautious and methodical campaigning, al-Afshin was able to capture Babak at his capital of Budhdh on 26 August 837, extinguishing the rebellion. Babak was brought captive to Samarra, where, on 3 January 838, he was paraded before the people seated on an elephant, and then publicly executed.[82][83][84]

The second major domestic campaign was against Mazyar of the Qarinid dynasty, autonomous ruler of Tabaristan.[85] Tabaristan had been subdued in 760, but Muslim presence was limited to the coastal lowlands of the Caspian Sea and their cities, while the mountainous areas remained under native rulers—chief among whom were the Bavandids in the eastern and the Qarinids in the central and western mountain ranges—who retained their autonomy in exchange for paying a tribute to the Caliphate.[86] With the support of al-Ma'mun, Mazyar had established himself as the de facto ruler of all Tabaristan, even capturing the Muslim city of Amul and imprisoning the local Abbasid governor. Al-Mu'tasim confirmed him in his post on his accession, but trouble soon began when Mazyar refused to accept his subordination to the Tahirid viceroy of the east, Abdallah ibn Tahir, instead insisting on paying the taxes of his region directly to al-Mu'tasim's agent.[85][87][88] According to al-Tabari, the Qarinid's intransigence had been secretly encouraged by al-Afshin, who hoped to discredit the Tahirids and assume their vast governorship in the east himself.[89] Tension mounted as the Tahirids encouraged the local Muslims to resist Mazyar, forcing the latter to adopt an increasingly confrontational stance against the Muslim settlers and turn for support on the native Iranian, and mostly Zoroastrian, peasantry, whom he encouraged to attack the Muslim landowners. Open conflict erupted in 838, when his troops seized the cities of Amul and Sari, took the Muslim settlers prisoner, and executed many of them; in return, the Tahirids under al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn ibn Mus'ab and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab invaded Tabaristan. Mazyar was betrayed by his brother Quhyar, who also revealed to the Tahirids the correspondence between Mazyar and al-Afshin. Quhyar then succeeded his brother as a Tahirid appointee, while Mazyar was taken captive to Samarra. Like Babak, he was paraded before the populace, and then flogged to death (6 September 840).[90][91][92] While the autonomy of the local dynasties was maintained in the aftermath of the revolt, the event marked the onset of the country's rapid Islamization, including among the native dynasties.[93]

At about the same time, Minkajur al-Ushrusani, whom al-Afshin had appointed as governor of Adharbayjan after the defeat of the Khurramites, rose up in revolt, either because he had been involved in financial irregularities, or because he had been a co-conspirator of al-Afshin's. Bugha the Elder marched against him, forcing the rebel to capitulate and receive a safe-passage for Samarra in 840,[94][95] near the end of al-Mu'tasim's life there were a series of uprisings in the Syrian provinces, including the revolt by Abu Harb, known as al-Mubarqa or "the Veiled One", which brought to the fore the lingering pro-Umayyad sentiment of a part of the Syrian Arabs.[1][96]

Map of the Byzantine and Arab campaigns in the years 837–838, showing Theophilos's raid into Upper Mesopotamia and al-Mu'tasim's retaliatory invasion of Asia Minor, culminating in the conquest of Amorium.

Taking advantage of the Abbasids' preoccupation with the suppression of the Khurramite rebellion, the Byzantine emperor Theophilos had launched a number of attacks on the Muslim frontier zone in the early 830s, and scored a few successes, his forces were also bolstered by some 14,000 Khurramites who under their leader, Nasr, fled into the Empire, became baptized and enrolled into the Byzantine army under the command of Nasr, better known by his Christian name of Theophobos.[97] In 837, Theophilos, urged by the increasingly hard-pressed Babak, launched a major campaign into the Muslim frontier lands, with an army reportedly numbering over 70,000 men, whom he led in an almost unopposed invasion around the upper Euphrates, the Byzantines took the towns of Zibatra (Sozopetra) and Arsamosata, ravaged and plundered the countryside, extracted ransom from Malatya and other cities in exchange for not attacking them, and defeated a number of smaller Arab forces.[98][99] As refugees began arriving at Samarra, the caliphal court was outraged by the brutality and brazenness of the raids: not only had the Byzantines acted in open collusion with the Khurramites, but during the sack of Zibatra all male prisoners were executed and the rest of the population sold into slavery, and some captive women were raped by Theophilos' Khurramites.[100][101]

The Caliph took over preparations for a retaliatory expedition himself, as the campaigns against Byzantium were customarily the only ones where caliphs participated in person.[75] Al-Mu'tasim assembled a huge force—80,000 men with 30,000 servants and camp followers according to Michael the Syrian, or even bigger according to other writers—at Tarsus, and declared his target to be Amorium, the birthplace of the reigning Byzantine dynasty. The Caliph reportedly had the name painted on the shields and banners of his army, the campaign began in June, with a smaller force under al-Afshin attacking through the Pass of Hadath in the east, while the Caliph with the main army crossed the Cilician Gates on 19–21 June. Theophilos, who had been caught unaware by the two-pronged Abbasid attack, tried to confront al-Afshin's smaller force first, but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Dazimon on 22 July, barely escaping with his life. Unable to offer any effective resistance to the Abbasid advance, the emperor returned to Constantinople. A week later, al-Afshin and the main caliphal army joined forces before Ancyra, which had been left defenceless and was plundered.[102][103][104]

From Ancyra, the Abbasid army turned to Amorium, to which they laid siege on 1 August. Al-Afshin, Itakh, and Ashinas all took turns assaulting the city with their troops, but the siege was fiercely contested, even after the Abbasids, informed by a defector, effected a breach in a weak spot of the wall, after two weeks, however, taking advantage of a short truce for negotiations requested by one of the Byzantine commanders of the breach, the Abbasid army stormed the city. The city was thoroughly plundered and its walls razed, while the populace, numbering into the tens of thousands, was carried off to be sold into slavery.[105][106][107] According to al-Tabari, al-Mu'tasim now pondered extending his campaign to attack Constantinople, when the conspiracy headed by his nephew, al-Abbas, was uncovered. Al-Mu'tasim was forced to cut short his campaign and return quickly to his realm, without bothering with Theophilos and his forces, encamped in nearby Dorylaion. Taking the direct route from Amorium to the Cilician Gates, both the caliph's army and its prisoners suffered in the march through the arid countryside of central Anatolia, some captives were so exhausted that they could not move and were executed, whereupon others found the opportunity to escape. In retaliation, al-Mu'tasim, after separating the most prominent among them, executed the rest, some 6,000 in number.[108][109][110]

The sack of Amorium brought al-Mu'tasim much acclaim as a warrior-caliph and ghāzī, and was celebrated by contemporaries, most notably in Abu Tammam's famous ode,[1] the Abbasids, however, did not follow up on their success. Warfare continued between the two empires with raids and counter-raids along the border, but after a few Byzantine successes a truce was agreed in 841, at the time of his death in 842, al-Mu'tasim was preparing yet another large-scale invasion, but the great fleet he had prepared to assault Constantinople perished in a storm off Cape Chelidonia a few months later. Following al-Mu'tasim's death, warfare gradually died down, and the Battle of Mauropotamos in 844 was the last major Arab–Byzantine engagement for a decade.[111]

Family tree of the descendants of al-Mu'tasim. All subsequent Abbasid caliphs were al-Mu'tasim's descendants.[7]

Al-Tabari states that al-Mu'tasim fell ill on 21 October 841, his regular doctor, Salmawayh ibn Bunan, whom the Caliph had trusted implicitly, had died the previous year and the new physician Yahya ibn Masawayh did not follow the normal treatment of cupping and purging, which according to Hunayn ibn Ishaq worsened the caliph's illness and brought about his death on 5 January 842, after a reign of eight years, eight months and two days according to the Islamic calendar.[112] He was buried in the Jawsaq al-Khaqani palace in Samarra,[113][114] the succession of his son, al-Wathiq, was unopposed. Al-Wathiq's reign, through unremarkable, was essentially a continuation of al-Mu'tasim's own, as the government continued to be led by the men al-Mu'tasim had raised to power: the Turks Itakh, Wasif, and Ashinas, the vizier Ibn al-Zayyat, and the chief qādī Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad.[115]

Al-Tabari describes al-Mu'tasim as having a relatively easygoing nature, being kind, agreeable and charitable,[116] while according to C. E. Bosworth, "Not much of [al-Mu'tasim's] character emerges from the sources, though they stress his lack of culture compared with his brother al-Ma'mun, with his questing mind; yet al-Mu'tasim's qualities as a military commander seem assured, and the Abbasid caliphate remained under him a mighty political and military entity".[1] Al-Mu'tasim's reign represents a watershed moment in the history of the Abbasid state, and had long-lasting repercussions in Islamic history. Al-Mu'tasim and his Turkish guard set a pattern that would be widely imitated: not only did the military acquire a predominant position in the state, but it also increasingly became the preserve of minority groups from the peoples living on the margins of the Islamic world, thus it formed an exclusive ruling caste, separated from the Arab-Iranian mainstream of society by ethnic origin, language, and sometimes even religion. This dichotomy would become, according to Hugh Kennedy, a "distinctive feature" of many Islamic polities, and would reach its apogee in the Mamluk dynasties that ruled Egypt and Syria in the late Middle Ages.[16][117]

More immediately, although al-Mu'tasim's new professional army proved militarily highly effective, it also posed a potential danger to the stability of the Abbasid regime, as the army's separation from mainstream society meant that the soldiers were entirely reliant on the ʿaṭāʾ for their very survival. Consequently, any failure to provide their pay or policies that threatened their position were likely to cause a violent reaction, this became evident less than a generation later, during the "Anarchy at Samarra" (861–870), where the Turks played the main role. The need to cover military spending would henceforth be a fixture of caliphal government, and that at a time when government income began to decline rapidly—partly through the rise of autonomous dynasties in the provinces and partly through the decline in productivity of the lowlands of Iraq that had traditionally provided the bulk of tax revenue. Less than a century after al-Mu'tasim's death, this process would lead to the bankruptcy of the Abbasid government and the eclipse of the caliphs' political power with Ibn Ra'iq's rise to the position of amīr al-umarāʾ.[118]

Al-Mu'tasim is featured in the medieval Arabic and Turkish epic Delhemma, helping the heroes pursue the traitor and apostate Uqba across several countries "from Spain to Yemen", before having him crucified before Constantinople, on its return, the Muslim army is ambushed in a defile by the Byzantines, and only 400 men, including the Caliph and most of the heroes, manage to escape. In retaliation, al-Mu'tasim's successor al-Wathiq launches a campaign against Constantinople, where he installs a Muslim governor.[119]

The name al-Mu'tasim is used for a fictional character in the story The Approach to al-Mu'tasim by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges, which appears in his anthology Ficciones. The al-Mu'tasim referenced there is not the Abbasid caliph, though Borges does state, regarding the original, non-fictional al-Mu'tasim from whom the name is taken: "the name of that eighth Abbasid caliph who was victorious in eight battles, fathered eight sons and eight daughters, left eight thousand slaves, and ruled for a period of eight years, eight moons, and eight days".[120]

While not strictly accurate, Borges' quote paraphrases al-Tabari, who notes that he was "born in the eighth month, was the eighth caliph, in the eighth generation from al-‘Abbas, his lifespan was eight and forty years, that he died leaving eight sons[121] and eight daughters, and that he reigned for eight years and eight months", and reflects the widespread reference to al-Mu'tasim in the Arabic sources as al-Muthamman ("the man of eight").[122]

Brett, Michael (2011). "Egypt". In Robinson, Chase F. The New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1: The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 506–540. ISBN978-0-521-83823-8.

El-Hibri, Tayeb (2011). "The empire in Iraq, 763–861". In Robinson, Chase F. The New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1: The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 269–304. ISBN978-0-521-83823-8.

Dirham
–
Dirham, dirhem or dirhm is a unit of currency in several Arab states and formerly, the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states. The name derives from the ancient Greek currency the drachma, in the late Ottoman Empire, the standard dirham was 3.207 g,400 dirhem equal one oka. In Egypt in 1895, it was equivalent to 47.661 troy g

Caliph
–
A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be

Abbasid Caliphate
–
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the U

Baghdad
–
Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, B

1.
Zumurrud Khaton tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD), photo of 1932.

2.
Panoramic view over the ancient city of Babylon, located 85 km (53 mi) south of Baghdad.

3.
Suq al-Ghazel (The Yarn Bazaar) Minaret in Baghdad, Mesopotamia (Iraq). This is the oldest minaret in Baghdad. It belonged to the Caliph Mosque, built by Caliph Muktafi 901–907 AD.

Abbasid Samarra
–
Samarra is a city in central Iraq, which served as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate from 836 to 892. Due to the short period of occupation, extensive ruins of Abbasid Samarra have survived into modern times. The layout of the city can still be seen via aerial photography, revealing a vast network of planned streets, studies comparing the archeo

Al-Mutawakkil
–
Abu’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi’llāh, better known by his regnal name al-Mutawakkil ʿAlā ’llāh was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. His assassination on 11 December 861 by the Turkish guard with the support of his son, al-Muntasir, the future al-Mutawakkil was born on February/March 822 to the Abbasid princ

1.
Destruction of the Tomb of Husain at Kerbela

Dynasty
–
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, us

Harun al-Rashid
–
Harun al-Rashid (/hɑːˈruːnɑːlrɑːˈʃiːd/ Arabic, هَارُون الرَشِيد‎‎, Hārūn Ar-Rašīd, in English, Aaron the Just,17 March 763 or February 766 —24 March 809 was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His birth date is debated, with sources giving dates from 763 to 766. His surname translates to the Just, the Upright, or the Rightly-Guided, fully translated, Al-Rash

1.
Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation sent by Charlemagne at his court

2.
During the reign of the Harun al-Rashid, the city of Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade.

3.
A silver dirham minted in Madinat al-Salam (Bagdad) in 170 AH (786 CE). At the reverse, the inner marginal inscription says: "By order of the slave of God, Harun, Commander of the Faithful "

4.
Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates

Arabic language
–
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and

Abbasid
–
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the U

Turkic peoples
–
The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in central, eastern, northern, and western Asia as well as parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family and they share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The first known mention of the term Turk applied to a

4.
The top of Belukha in the Altay Mountains in Mongolia is shown here. The mountain range is thought to be the birthplace of the Turkic people.

Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transit

Tahirids
–
The Tahirid dynasty was a dynasty, of Persian dihqan origin, that governed the Abbasid province of Khorasan from 821 to 873, and the city of Baghdad from 820 until 891. The dynasty was founded by Tahir ibn Husayn, a general in the service of the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun. Their capital in Khorasan was initially located at Merv, but later moved to Nis

1.
Provinces governed by the Tahirids.

Wasif al-Turki
–
Wasif al-Turki was a Turkish general in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. He played a role in the events that followed the assassination of al-Mutawakkil in 861. During this period he and his ally Bugha al-Sharabi were often in control of affairs in the capital. After Wasif was killed in 867, his position was inherited by his son Salih, Wasif w

1.
Map of Samarra. Wasif and his followers were originally given grants adjacent to al-Hayr, and subsequently moved to al-Matira

Al-Afshin
–
Ḥaydar ibn Kāwūs, better known by his hereditary title of al-Afshīn, was a senior general of Iranian descent at the court of the Abbasid caliphs and a vassal prince of Oshrusana. Eventually he was suspected of disloyalty and was arrested, tried, Afshin is a hereditary title of Oshrusana princes at the time of the Muslim conquest of Persia. The term

1.
Babak parleys with the Afshin Haydar, the Caliph al-Mu'tasim's general

2.
The Byzantine army and Theophilos retreat towards a mountain, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.

Anarchy at Samarra
–
The term derives from the then capital and seat of the caliphal court, Samarra. The anarchy began in 861, with the murder of Caliph al-Mutawakkil by his Turkish guards and his successor, al-Muntasir, ruled for six months before his death, possibly poisoned by the Turkish military chiefs. Mutazz was able and energetic, and tried to control the milit

1.
Family tree of the Abbasid dynasty in the middle and late 9th century

Khurramite
–
The Khurramites were an Iranian religious and political movement with its roots in the movement founded by Mazdak. An alternative name for the movement is the Muḥammira, a reference to their symbolic red dress, the sect grew out of a response to the execution of Abu Muslim by the Abbasids, and denied that he had died, rather claiming that he would

Babak Khorramdin
–
Bābak Khorramdin was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān, which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be an analogous to dorustdin orthodoxy and Behdin Good Religion. Babaks Iranianizing rebellion, from its base in Adharbayjan in northwestern Iran, the Khorramdin re

Adharbayjan
–
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan, also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Iranian Azerbaijan is administratively divided into West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, the region is mostly populated by Azerbaijanis, with minor

1.
Caspian sea and Azerbaijan position on the left side of the map in the 10th century. Original map is in Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ (صورة الارض; "The face of the Earth") Ibn Hawqal (977) Beyrut) page 419

2.
Four provinces in Iranian Azerbaijan.

3.
An old map of Azerbaijan and its neighboring regions depicted by the Ibn Hawqal 1145 AD.

Mazyar
–
Mazyar, was an Iranian prince from the Qarinvand dynasty and feudal ruler of the mountainous region of Tabaristan. For his resistance to the Abbasid Caliphate, Mazyar is considered one of the heroes of Iran by twentieth-century Iranian nationalist historiography. His name means protected by the yazata of the moon, Mazyar succeeded his father Qarin

1.
Map of northern Iran

Tabaristan
–
Tabaristan, also known as Tapuria, was the name applied to Mazandaran, a province in northern Iran. Although the natives of the region knew it as Mazandaran, the region was called Tabaristan from the Arab conquests to the Seljuk period, the Amardians are believed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region where modern day Mazanderan and Gi

1.
Silver gilt dish of Tapuria, 7th–8th centuries. A tradition initiated under the Sasanians and continued after the Arab invasions. "Anuzhad" inscription in Pahlavi script, next to the reclining figure. British Museum.

2.
The map of Tabaristan

Battle of Anzen
–
The Battle of Anzen or Dazimon was fought on 22 July 838 at Anzen or Dazimon between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate. Theophilos with his army confronted the smaller Muslim army, under the Iranian vassal prince Afshin, coupled with a fierce counterattack by Afshins Turkish horse-archers, the Byzantine army broke and fle

1.
The Byzantine army and Theophilos retreat towards a mountain, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.

2.
Map of the Byzantine and Arab campaigns in the years 837–838

3.
The Emperor Theophilos and his court, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes chronicle.

Theophilos (emperor)
–
Theophilos was the Byzantine Emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the emperor of the Amorian dynasty and the last emperor to support iconoclasm. Theophilos personally led the armies in his war against the Arabs. Theophilos was the son of the Byzantine Emperor Michael II and his wife Thekla, Michael II crowned Theophilos co-emperor in 822

2.
Theophilos on a coin of his father, Michael II, founder of the Phrygian dynasty.

3.
The Byzantine embassy of John the Grammarian in 829 to Ma'mun (depicted left) from Theophilos (depicted right)

4.
Follis of a new type, minted in large quantities in celebration of Theophilos' victories against the Arabs from ca. 835 on. On the obverse he is represented in triumphal attire, wearing the toupha, and on the reverse the traditional acclamation "Theophilos Augustus, you conquer".

Sack of Amorium
–
The Sack of Amorium by the Abbasid Caliphate in mid-August 838 was one of the major events in the long history of the Arab–Byzantine Wars. Mutasim targeted Amorium, a Byzantine city in western Asia Minor, because it was the birthplace of the ruling Byzantine dynasty and, at the time, the caliph gathered an exceptionally large army, which he divided

1.
Follis of a new type, minted in large quantities in celebration of Theophilos's victories against the Arabs from ca. 835 on. On the obverse, he is represented in triumphal attire, wearing the toupha, and on the reverse the traditional acclamation "Theophilos Augustus, you conquer".

3.
Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes depicting the Arab siege of Amorium

4.
Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes depicting the embassy of the tourmarches Basil to al-Mu'tasim (seated) after the fall of Amorium.

Amorium
–
Amorium was a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor which was founded in the Hellenistic period, flourished under the Byzantine Empire, and declined after the Arab sack of 838. It was situated on the Byzantine military road from Constantinople to Cilicia and its ruins and höyük are located under and around the modern village of Hisarköy,13 kilometers east of

Al-Tabari
–
Today, he is best known for his expertise in tafsir, fiqh, and history, but he has been described as an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on subjects as poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics. His most influential and best known works are his Quranic commentary known as Tafsir al-Tabari and his historical chronicle Tarikh al-Rusu

1.
Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari

3.
Quran Tabari

4.
Bal'ami 's 14th century Persian version of Universal History by Tabari

Soghdia
–
Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great. In the Avesta, Sogdiana is listed as the second best land that the supreme deity Ahura Mazda had created and it comes second, after Airyanem Vaejah, homeland of the Aryans, in the Zoroastrian book of Vendidad, indicating th

1.
Sogdians, depicted on a Chinese Sogdian sarcophagus of the Northern Qi era.

4.
Barbaric copy of a coin of Euthydemus I, from the region of Sogdiana. The legend on the reverse is in Aramaic script.

Fourth Fitna
–
The Fourth Fitna or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Mamun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, had named al-Amin as the first successor, later a third son, al-Qasim, had been designated as third successor. After Harun died in 809, al-

1.
Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates

Yemen
–
Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gu

1.
Sabaean gravestone of a woman holding a stylized sheaf of wheat, a symbol of fertility in ancient Yemen

Mecca
–
Mecca or Makkah is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also capital of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km inland from Jeddah in a valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although more than triple this number every year during the hajj period held in the twelfth Mus

Alid
–
The Alids are the dynasties descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims consider him the First Imam appointed by Muhammad and the first rightful caliph, primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif or sherif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn

Umayyad
–
The Umayyad Caliphate, also spelled Omayyad, was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty, hailing from Mecca, Syria remained the Umayyads main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating th

Gustav Droysen
–
Johann Gustav Droysen was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called great men, Droysen was born at Treptow in Pomerania. His father, Johann Christoph Droysen, was a chaplain who had been present at the celebrated siege of Ko

1.
Gustav Droysen

Central Asia
–
Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also referred to as the -stans as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix -stan. Central Asias five former Soviet republics are Kazakhstan,

Samanid
–
The Samanid Empire, also known as the Samanid dynasty, Samanid Emirate, or simply Samanids, was a Sunni Iranian empire, ruling from 819 to 999. The Samanid state was founded by four brothers, Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, in 892, Ismail ibn Ahmad united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanid

Mashriq
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The Mashriq is the region of the Arab world to the east of Egypt. This comprises Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, poetically the place of sunrise, the name is derived from the verb sharaqa, referring to the east, where the sun rises. As it refers to countries bounded between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, it is the term to Maghreb, the

1.
Map depicting the area known as the Mashriq.

Mamluk
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Mamluk is an Arabic designation for slaves. The term is most commonly used to refer to Muslim slave soldiers and these were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin, over time, the mamluks became a powerful military knightly caste in various societies that were c

Manumit
–
Manumission, from manumit /ˌmænjəˈmɪt/, is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a slave system. The motivations of slave owners in manumitting slaves were complex and varied, firstly, manumission may present itself as a sentimental and benevolent gesture. One typi

Egypt in the Middle Ages
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In 1174, Egypt came under the rule of Ayyubids that lasted until 1252. The Ayyubids were overthrown by their bodyguards, known as the Mamluks, who ruled under the suzerainty of Abbasid Caliphs until 1517, when Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire. In 639 an army of some 4,000 men were sent against Egypt by the caliph, Umar. This army was joined

Bilad al-Sham
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Bilad al-Sham was a Rashidun, Umayyad and later Abbasid Caliphate province in the region of Syria. The name Bilad aš-Šām means land to the north, or literally land on the left-hand, the name given to the Levant by the Arab conquerors was Aš-Šām The North. The population of the region did not become predominantly Muslim and Arab in identity until ne

Abdallah ibn Tahir
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Abdallah ibn Tahir was the Tahirid governor of Khurasan from 828 until his death. He is perhaps the most famous of the Tahirids, Abdallahs early career consisted serving with his father Tahir ibn Husayn in pacifying the lands of the Abbasid Caliphate following the civil war between al-Amin and al-Mamun. He later succeeded his father as governor of

1.
Map of the Tahirid dynasty

Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
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Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. This region is approximately correspondent with what was Assyria from the 25th century BC through to the mid-7th century AD and it extends down the Tigris to Samarra and down the E

Thughur
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It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests ebbed, and lasted until the mid-10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as the al-thughūr, and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, on the Byzant

1.
Map of the Byzantine-Arab frontier zone in southeastern Asia Minor, with the major fortresses

Nile Delta
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The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the worlds largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, from north to south the delta is approximately 160 kilometres in length. The Delta begins slightly down-river from Cairo, from

4.
Ancient branches of the Nile, showing Wadi Tumilat, and the lakes east of the Delta

Fustat
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Fustat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. It was built by the Muslim general Amr ibn al-As immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD641, and featured the Mosque of Amr, the city reached its peak in the 12th century, with a population of approximately 200,000. It was the centre of power in Egypt, until it was ordered burnt

1.
A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's History of Egypt

2.
The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As. Though none of the original structure remains, this mosque was the first one built in Egypt, and it was around this location, at the site of the tent of the commander Amr ibn al-As, that the city of Fustat was built.

3.
Lusterware Plate with Bird Motif, 11th century. Archaeological digs have found many kilns and ceramic fragments in Fustat, and it was likely an important production location for Islamic ceramics during the Fatimid period.

4.
Indian textile fragment, circa 1545 – 1645, found in Fustat. Old, discarded textile fragments are commonly found in the area, preserved in the dry climate of Egypt.

Copts
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The Copts are an ethno-religious group that primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination. Copts are also the largest Christian adherent group in Sudan and Libya, historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken during the Roman era. The Coptic

Muslim conquest of Egypt
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At the commencement of the Muslim conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople. Before the Muslim conquest of Egypt had begun, the Byzantines had already lost the Levant and its Arab ally, all of this left the Byzantine Empire dangerously exposed and vulnerable. In December 639, Am

1.
Muslim conquest of Egypt

2.
Pyramids of Giza.

3.
Ancient Roman theaters in Alexandria.

Cilician Gates
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The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m, the Cilician Gates have been a major commercial and military artery for millennia. In the early 20th century, a railway was buil

1.
Gülek Pass

Tyana
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Tyana or Tyanna was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern Kemerhisar, Niğde Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom in the 1st millennium BC, Tyana is the city referred to in Hittite archives as Tuwanuwa. During the Hittite Empire period in mid 2nd millennium, Tuwanu

1.
The Roman aqueduct of Tyana

Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The firs

1.
Constantinople in the Byzantine era

2.
Map of Byzantine Constantinople

3.
Emperor Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic. Hagia Sophia, c. 1000

4.
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople

Jund

1.
Jun D proto-oncogene

C. E. Bosworth

1.
Clifford Edmund Bosworth during a ESCAS conference at the University of Cambridge. 20 September 2011. Photo by T. Chorotegin.

1.
Nestorian priests in a procession on Palm Sunday, in a 7th- or 8th-century wall painting from a Nestorian church in Tang China

2.
The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

3.
Mar Elias (Eliya), the Nestorian bishop of the Urmia plain village of Geogtapa, c.1831.The image comes from Justin Perkins, 'A Residence of Eight Years in Persia among the Nestorians, with Notes of the Mohammedans' (Andover, 1843)

2.
Prior to the revolution of 1917, Stalin played an active role in fighting the Russian government. Here he is shown on a 1911 information card from the files of the Russian police in Saint Petersburg.

3.
A group of participants in the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party, 1919. In the middle are Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin.

1.
Caesar Augustus as Jove incarnate. The Roman Empire was, before Constantine, a quasi-theocracy. Opinion in both late antiquity and later history, however, regards negatively Emperors, such as Caligula and Domitian, who assumed that dignity in life. [citation needed] By contrast, each Pharaoh of Egypt, as Horus incarnate, son of Amun-Ra, Osiris in death, etc. (as in other cultures) was held to be a living god.

1.
Dirham
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Dirham, dirhem or dirhm is a unit of currency in several Arab states and formerly, the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states. The name derives from the ancient Greek currency the drachma, in the late Ottoman Empire, the standard dirham was 3.207 g,400 dirhem equal one oka. In Egypt in 1895, it was equivalent to 47.661 troy grains, there is currently a movement within the Islamic world to revive the Dirham as a unit of mass for measuring silver, although the exact value is disputed. The word dirham comes from drachma, the Greek coin, the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire controlled the Levant and traded with Arabia, circulating the coin there in pre-Islamic times and afterward. It was this currency which was adopted as an Arab word, then near the end of the 7th century the coin became an Islamic currency bearing the name of the sovereign

2.
Caliph
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A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph

3.
Abbasid Caliphate
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The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads

4.
Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 -3,000,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate

Baghdad
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Zumurrud Khaton tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD), photo of 1932.
Baghdad
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Panoramic view over the ancient city of Babylon, located 85 km (53 mi) south of Baghdad.
Baghdad
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Suq al-Ghazel (The Yarn Bazaar) Minaret in Baghdad, Mesopotamia (Iraq). This is the oldest minaret in Baghdad. It belonged to the Caliph Mosque, built by Caliph Muktafi 901–907 AD.

5.
Abbasid Samarra
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Samarra is a city in central Iraq, which served as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate from 836 to 892. Due to the short period of occupation, extensive ruins of Abbasid Samarra have survived into modern times. The layout of the city can still be seen via aerial photography, revealing a vast network of planned streets, studies comparing the archeological evidence with information provided by Muslim historians have resulted in the identification of many of the toponyms within the former city. The archeological site of Samarra was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2007, the modern city bearing the same name lies within the Abbasid ruins. The toponym Samarra is known to have existed prior to the Islamic period, classical authors mention the name in various forms, including the Greek Suma, the Latin Sumere and the Syriac Šumara. The formal name of the Abbasid city was Surra Man Raā and this name appears on coins and was adopted by some medieval writers. Other sources, however, use Sāmarrā or Sāmarrā as variants of the name. Samarra was founded by the eighth Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim in 836, al-Mutasims immediate motivation for the decision was a need to find housing for his newly formed Turkish and other army regiments. Al-Mutasim therefore resolved in ca.835 to depart from Baghdad, the seat of the Abbasid caliphs since 762. Following a period of searching for a spot, al-Mutasim settled on a site approximately 80 mi north of Baghdad on the east side of the Tigris. After sending men to buy up the properties, including a Christian monastery. By 836, buildings had been erected at the site and al-Mutasim moved into the new city, from the start, construction at Samarra was undertaken on a massive scale. Space was no object, land was plentiful and cheap, with little in the way of preexisting settlements to hinder expansion, al-Mutasim marked out various allotments in the new city and granted these spaces to various elites of the army and administration for them to develop. Numerous cantonments were established for the regiments, who in many cases were intentionally segregated from the residences for the general populace. Markets, mosques and baths for the people were built, together with a number of palaces for the caliph and other prominent individuals. Materials and laborers were shipped in from parts of the Muslim world to help with the work, iron-workers, carpenters, marble sculptors. After al-Mutasims death, his successor al-Wathiq remained in Samarra and his decision to stay convinced the residents of the new citys permanence, and a fresh round of construction began during his reign. Al-Wathiq himself built a new palace, the Haruni on the bank of the Tigris, al-Mutawakkil aggressively pursued new construction, extending the central city to the east and building the Great Mosque of Samarra, the cantonment of Balkuwara and numerous palaces

Abbasid Samarra
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A stucco wall from the ruins of Abbasid Samarra
Abbasid Samarra
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The spiral minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra
Abbasid Samarra
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The spiral minaret of the Abu Dulaf Mosque

6.
Al-Mutawakkil
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Abu’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi’llāh, better known by his regnal name al-Mutawakkil ʿAlā ’llāh was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. His assassination on 11 December 861 by the Turkish guard with the support of his son, al-Muntasir, the future al-Mutawakkil was born on February/March 822 to the Abbasid prince Abu Ishaq Muhammad and a slave concubine from Khwarazm called Shuja. His early life is obscure, as he played no role in political affairs until the death of his older half-brother, al-Wathiq, al-Wathiqs death was unexpected, and although he had a young son, he had not designated a successor. Ibn al-Zayyat initially proposed al-Wathiqs son Muhammad, but due to his youth he was passed over, and instead the council chose the 26-year-old Jafar, the officials obviously hoped that the new Caliph would prove a pliable puppet, like al-Wathiq. Al-Mutawakkils first target was the vizier Ibn al-Zayyat, against whom he harboured a grudge over the way he had disrespected him in the past. According to al-Tabari, when al-Wathiq had grown angry and suspicious at his brother, not only had Ibn al-Zayyat kept the Abbasid prince waiting until he finished going through his correspondence, but even mocked him, in the presence of others, for coming to him seeking assistance. Not only that, but when the prince left, Ibn al-Zayyat wrote to the Caliph to complain about his appearance, noting that he was dressed in effeminate fashion. As a result, al-Wathiq had his brother summoned to court, Al-Mutawakkil came in a brand-new court dress, hoping to mollify the Caliph, but instead al-Wathiq ordered that his hair be shorn off, and al-Mutawakkil be struck in the face with it. In later times, al-Mutawakkil confessed that he had never been so distressed by anything in his life than by public humiliation. Thus, on 22 September 847, he sent Itakh to summon Ibn al-Zayyat as if for an audience, instead, the vizier was brought to Itakhs residence, where he was placed under house arrest. His possessions were confiscated, and he was tortured to death, in 848, however, he was persuaded to go to the pilgrimage, and laid down his powers, only to be arrested on his return. His possessions were confiscated—reportedly, in his house alone the Caliphs agents found one million gold dinars and he died of thirst in prison on 21 December 849. One Mahmud ibn al-Faraj al-Nayshapuri arose claiming to be a prophet and he and some followers were arrested in Baghdad. He was imprisoned, beaten and on June 18,850 he died, in A. H.236 al-Mutawakkil issued a decree requiring all Christians and Jews in his realm including Jerusalem and Caesarea to wear a yellow hood and belt to distinguish them from Muslims. In A. H.237 Armenians rebelled and defeated and killed the Abbasid governor, Al-Mutawakkil sent his general Bugha al-Kabir to handle this. Bugha scored successes this year and the year he attacked and burned Tiflis. That year the Byzantines attacked Damietta, in A. H.240 the police chief in Homs killed a prominent person stirring an uprising. When the next year saw a revolt against this new police chief, as Christians had joined in the second round of disturbances, the caliph had Christians expelled from Homs

Al-Mutawakkil
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Destruction of the Tomb of Husain at Kerbela

7.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic

8.
Harun al-Rashid
–
Harun al-Rashid (/hɑːˈruːnɑːlrɑːˈʃiːd/ Arabic, هَارُون الرَشِيد‎‎, Hārūn Ar-Rašīd, in English, Aaron the Just,17 March 763 or February 766 —24 March 809 was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His birth date is debated, with sources giving dates from 763 to 766. His surname translates to the Just, the Upright, or the Rightly-Guided, fully translated, Al-Rashid ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic Golden Age. His time was marked by scientific, cultural, and religious prosperity, Islamic art and music also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, during his rule, the family of Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined gradually. In 796, he moved his court and government to Raqqa in present-day Syria, since Harun was intellectually, politically, and militarily resourceful, his life and his court have been the subject of many tales, some factual, but most believed to be fictitious. One factual tale is the story of the clock that was among various presents that Harun sent to Charlemagne, the presents were carried by the returning Frankish mission that came to offer Harun friendship in 799. Charlemagne and his retinue deemed the clock to be a conjuration for the sounds it emanated, among what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains many stories that are fantasized by Haruns magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid himself. Amongst some of the Twelver sect of Shia Muslims he is disliked for his role in the murder of their 7th Imam, although Sunnis. Hārūn was born in Rey, then part of Jibal in the Abbasid Caliphate, in present-day Tehran Province, the latter expedition was a huge undertaking, and even reached the Asian suburbs of Constantinople. Hārūn became caliph in 786 when he was in his early twenties and he began his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried on the work of the government so well that they greatly improved the condition of the people. It was under Hārūn ar-Rashīd that Baghdad flourished into the most splendid city of its period, tribute was paid by many rulers to the caliph, and these funds were used on architecture, the arts and a luxurious life at court. In 796, Hārūn decided to move his court and the government to Raqqa at the middle Euphrates, here he spent 12 years, most of his reign. Only once did he return to Baghdad for a short visit, several reasons might have influenced the decision to move to Raqqa. It was close to the Byzantine border, the communication lines via the Euphrates to Baghdad and via the Balikh river to the north and via Palmyra to Damascus were excellent. The agriculture was flourishing to support the new Imperial center, and from Raqqa any rebellion in Syria and the middle Euphrates area could be controlled. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani pictures in his anthology of poems the splendid life in his court, in Raqqa the Barmekids managed the fate of the empire, and there both heirs, al-Amin and al-Mamun grew up. For the administration of the empire, he fell back on his mentor

Harun al-Rashid
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Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation sent by Charlemagne at his court
Harun al-Rashid
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During the reign of the Harun al-Rashid, the city of Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade.
Harun al-Rashid
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A silver dirham minted in Madinat al-Salam (Bagdad) in 170 AH (786 CE). At the reverse, the inner marginal inscription says: "By order of the slave of God, Harun, Commander of the Faithful "
Harun al-Rashid
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Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates

9.
Arabic language
–
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested

Arabic language
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The Galland Manuscript of One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic language
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al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)
Arabic language
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Bilingual traffic sign in Qatar.
Arabic language
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Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.

10.
Abbasid
–
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads

11.
Turkic peoples
–
The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in central, eastern, northern, and western Asia as well as parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family and they share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The first known mention of the term Turk applied to a Turkic group was in reference to the Göktürks in the 6th century, a letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen of Sui in 585 described him as the Great Turk Khan. The Orhun inscriptions use the terms Turk and Turuk and this includes Chinese records Spring and Autumn Annals referring to a neighbouring people as Beidi. During the first century CE, Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the north of the Sea of Azov. There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names could be the form of Türk/Türük such as Togarma, Turukha/Turuška, Turukku. But the information gap is so substantial that we cannot firmly connect these ancient people to the modern Turks, turkologist András Róna-Tas posits that the term Turk could be rooted in the East Iranian Saka language or in Turkic. This etymological concept is related to Old Turkic word stems tür, türi-, törü. The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the Dingling, Gekun, the Chinese Book of Zhou presents an etymology of the name Turk as derived from helmet, explaining that taken this name refers to the shape of the Altai Mountains. During the Middle Ages, various Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe were subsumed under the identity of the Scythians, between 400 CE and the 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples. However, the usage of the term is based on the linguistic classification in order to avoid any political sense. In short, the term Türki can be used for Türk or vice versa and it is generally agreed that the first Turkic people lived in a region extending from Central Asia to Siberia, with the majority of them living in China historically. Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE, the earliest separate Turkic peoples appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE. Turkic people may be related to the Xiongnu, Dingling and Tiele people, according to the Book of Wei, the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi, the red Di people competing with the Jin in the Spring and Autumn period. Turkic tribes such as the Khazars and Pechenegs probably lived as nomads for many years before establishing the Turkic Khaganate or Göktürk Empire in the 6th century and these were herdsmen and nobles who were searching for new pastures and wealth. The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese text that mentioned trade between Turk tribes and the Sogdians along the Silk Road, the first recorded use of Turk as a political name appears as a 6th-century reference to the word pronounced in Modern Chinese as Tujue. The Ashina clan migrated from Li-jien to the Juan Juan seeking inclusion in their confederacy, the tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land near a mountain quarry which looked like a helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥. A century later their power had increased such that they conquered the Juan Juan, Turkic peoples originally used their own alphabets, like Orkhon and Yenisey runiforms, and later the Uyghur alphabet

Turkic peoples
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Map from Kashgari's Diwan, showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.
Turkic peoples
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Turkic states shown in red
Turkic peoples
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History of the Turkic peoples Pre-14th century
Turkic peoples
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The top of Belukha in the Altay Mountains in Mongolia is shown here. The mountain range is thought to be the birthplace of the Turkic people.

12.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD

13.
Tahirids
–
The Tahirid dynasty was a dynasty, of Persian dihqan origin, that governed the Abbasid province of Khorasan from 821 to 873, and the city of Baghdad from 820 until 891. The dynasty was founded by Tahir ibn Husayn, a general in the service of the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun. Their capital in Khorasan was initially located at Merv, but later moved to Nishapur, the Tahirids enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in their governance of Khorasan, although they remained subject to the Abbasid caliphate and were not independent rulers. The founder of the Tahirid dynasty was Tahir ibn Husayn, a general who had played a role in the civil war between the rival caliphs al-Amin and al-Mamun. He and his ancestors had previously awarded minor governorships in eastern Khorasan for their service to the Abbasids. In 821, Tahir was made governor of Khorasan, but he died soon afterwards, the caliph then appointed Tahirs son, Talha, whose governorship lasted from 822–828. Tahirs other son, Abdullah, was instated as the wali of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, the replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khurasan. Abdullah died in 845 and was succeeded by his son Tahir II, not much is known of Tahirs rule, but the administrative dependency of Sistan was lost to rebels during his governorship. Tahirid rule began to deteriorate after Tahirs son Muhammad ibn Tahir became governor, due to his carelessness with the affairs of the state. In Khorasan itself, Muhammads rule continued to grow weak, and in 873 he was finally overthrown by the Saffarid dynasty. Besides their hold over Khorasan, the Tahirids also served as the governors of Baghdad. After he left for Khorasan, the governorship of Baghdad was given to a member of a branch of the family, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. During Ishaqs term as governor, he was responsible for implementing the Mihna in Baghdad and his administration also witnessed the departure of the caliphs from Baghdad, as they made the recently constructed city of Samarra their new capital. When Ishaq died in 849 he was succeeded first by two of his sons, and then in 851 by Tahirs grandson Muhammad ibn Abdallah. The following year, he forced al-Mustain to abdicate and recognized al-Mutazz as caliph, eventually order was restored in Baghdad, and the Tahirids continued to serve as governors of the city for another two decades. In 891, however, Badr al-Mutadidi was put in charge of the security of Baghdad in place of the Tahirids, and the family soon lost their prominence within the caliphate after that. The Tahirids were highly Arabized in culture and outlook, and eager to be accepted in the Caliphal world where cultivation of things Arabic gave social and cultural prestige, for this reason, the Tahirids could not play a part in the renaissance of New Persian language and culture. But the Persian language, was at least tolerated in the entourage of the Tahirids, on the other hand, the Saffarids played the leading part in the renaissance of Persian literature

Tahirids
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Provinces governed by the Tahirids.
Tahirids

14.
Wasif al-Turki
–
Wasif al-Turki was a Turkish general in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. He played a role in the events that followed the assassination of al-Mutawakkil in 861. During this period he and his ally Bugha al-Sharabi were often in control of affairs in the capital. After Wasif was killed in 867, his position was inherited by his son Salih, Wasif was originally a slave and was owned by the Numan family in Baghdad, where he worked as an armorer. At some point he was purchased by the future caliph al-Mutasim, when al-Mutasim decided to move his capital to Samarra in 836, Wasif and his followers were settled in the new city, having received land allotments adjacent to al-Hayr. In 838 Wasif participated in al-Mutasims Amorium campaign, and is mentioned as commanding the advance guard as they passed through the Gates of Tarsus. According to al-Yaqubi, Wasif also served as al-Mutasims chamberlain, during the caliphate of al-Wathiq, Wasif was granted the Samarran cantonment of al-Matira, which had formerly been in the possession of the disgraced general al-Afshin. In 846 he undertook an expedition to the areas of Isfahan, al-Jibal and Fars, after al-Wathiq died in 847, Wasif and other high-ranking officers and court officials met to choose his successor. The group eventually agreed to select al-Mutawakkil, and Wasif was among the first to render the oath of allegiance to the new caliph, during al-Mutawakkils reign, Wasif was appointed as chamberlain. The caliph also entrusted Wasifs sister Suad with the guardianship of his son al-Muayyad, al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by members of his Turkish bodyguard in December 861. Wasif was not a member of the team, but he was a central figure in the plot. For his part, Wasif was aware of the plan and sent five of his sons, including Salih ibn Wasif, al-Mutawakkils death resulted in his eldest son al-Muntasir becoming caliph. During his short reign, Wasif and Bugha urged the caliph to cancel his fathers succession arrangements and depose al-Muntasirs brothers al-Mutazz, the Turks feared that if al-Mutazz became caliph, he would seek revenge for al-Mutawakkils death and eliminate them. They eventually convinced al-Muntasir to force his brothers to abdicate, in early 862 Wasif was appointed by the caliph to undertake a major campaign on the Byzantine frontier. The decision to select Wasif was allegedly the work of the vizier Ahmad ibn al-Khasib, Wasif seems to have had no objection to the assignment and led a large force to the frontier, where he captured a fortress from the Byzantines. While on campaign at the frontier, Wasif learned of the death of al-Muntasir in June 862, being unable to play any role in the selection process, Wasif decided to continue with the expedition for a time, but by the next year he had returned to Samarra. During the first year of reign, the administration was dominated by his vizier Utamish. When the latter attempted to exclude Wasif and Bugha from power, however and this strategy eventually succeeded and Utamish was killed by the mawlas in June 863

Wasif al-Turki
–
Map of Samarra. Wasif and his followers were originally given grants adjacent to al-Hayr, and subsequently moved to al-Matira

15.
Al-Afshin
–
Ḥaydar ibn Kāwūs, better known by his hereditary title of al-Afshīn, was a senior general of Iranian descent at the court of the Abbasid caliphs and a vassal prince of Oshrusana. Eventually he was suspected of disloyalty and was arrested, tried, Afshin is a hereditary title of Oshrusana princes at the time of the Muslim conquest of Persia. The term is an Arabic form of the Middle Persian Pishin and Avestan Pisinah, minorsky suggests that the title Afshin was of Sogdian origin. At the time of the first Arab invasion of Transoxiana under Qutayba ibn Muslim, Ushrusana was inhabited by Iranians, Afshin is generally considered an Iranian, and although two classical sources have called him a Turk. He came from an Iranian cultural region and was not usually considered Turkish and his background has been stated to be Sogdian. But it was not until Harun al-Rashids reign in 794-95 that al-Fadl ibn Yahya al-Barmaki led an expedition into Transoxania and received the submission of Afshin Kharākana, further expeditions were sent to Oshrusana by Al-Mamun when he was governor in Merv and later after he had become caliph. Kawus ibn Kharakhuruh, the son of the Afshin Karākana, withdrew his allegiance from the Arabs, however, shortly after Mamun arrived in Baghdad from the east, a power struggle and dissension broke out among the reigning family of Oshrusana. According to most of the sources, al-Mamuns heir, Al-Mutasim seconded high-ranking officers to serve him and ordered exceptionally large salaries, expense allowances. In 831-833, Afshin suppressed uprisings throughout Egypt, on 2 June 832 Afshin succeeded in taking Bima in Egypt. The town surrendered to Afshin following his advice that al-Mamun promised safe conduct, in 835, Caliph al-Mutasim appointed Afshin as governor of Adharbayjan to fight against Babak Khorramdin, leader of anti-Islamic neo-Mazdakite Persian movement of the Khurramites. After a fierce resistance by Babaks army, Afshin eventually defeated it, yaqubi records Afshin freeing 7,600 Arab prisoners from this fortress and he destroyed the castle. The Khurramite leader went into hiding under the protection of a local Christian prince Sahl ibn-Sunbat who later turned him into Afshin, in return for Afshins achievements, the caliph rewarded him with the governorship of Sind in addition to that of Armenia and Adharbayjan. In 838, al-Mutasim decided to launch a punitive expedition against Byzantium. A vast army was gathered at Tarsus, which was divided into two main forces. Afshin was placed in command of the force, that would invade the Armeniac theme from the region of Melitene, joining up with the forces of the citys emir. The southern, main force, under the Caliph himself, would pass through the Cilician Gates into Cappadocia, after the city was taken, the Arab armies would join and march to Amorium. Afshins force included, according to Skylitzes, the entire Arab army of Armenia, a few days later, on 19 June, the vanguard of the main Abbasid army also invaded Byzantine territory, followed two days after by the Caliph with the main body. Emperor Theophilos chose to confront Afshin first, since although his army was smaller, on 21 July, the imperial army came into view of the Arab force, and encamped on the hill of Anzen south of Dazimon

Al-Afshin
–
Babak parleys with the Afshin Haydar, the Caliph al-Mu'tasim's general
Al-Afshin
–
The Byzantine army and Theophilos retreat towards a mountain, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.
Al-Afshin
–
Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript depicting the Arab siege of Amorium

16.
Anarchy at Samarra
–
The term derives from the then capital and seat of the caliphal court, Samarra. The anarchy began in 861, with the murder of Caliph al-Mutawakkil by his Turkish guards and his successor, al-Muntasir, ruled for six months before his death, possibly poisoned by the Turkish military chiefs. Mutazz was able and energetic, and tried to control the military chiefs and his policies were resisted, and in July 869 he too was deposed and killed. His successor, al-Muhtadi, also tried to reaffirm the Caliphs authority, the New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume I, The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries. The breaking of a thousand swords, a history of the Turkish military of Samarra, state University of New York Press. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century, harlow, UK, Pearson Education Ltd. pp. 169–175

Anarchy at Samarra
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Family tree of the Abbasid dynasty in the middle and late 9th century

17.
Khurramite
–
The Khurramites were an Iranian religious and political movement with its roots in the movement founded by Mazdak. An alternative name for the movement is the Muḥammira, a reference to their symbolic red dress, the sect grew out of a response to the execution of Abu Muslim by the Abbasids, and denied that he had died, rather claiming that he would return as the messiah. This message was confirmed by the appearance of a prophet named al-Muqanna‘ The Veiled. Under the leadership of Bābak, the Khurammites proclaimed the breakup and redistribution of all the great estates, taking advantage of the turmoil created by the Abbasid civil war, in 816 they began making attacks on Muslim forces in Iran and Iraq. People gave them the name of the Khurrma-dins, while, Zarinkoob says, They apparently were remnants of Mazdak followers who had escaped Khosro I’s wrath, while Khosro II and his successors―besieged with their own problems―were heedless of them. He observes that the basis of their doctrine is belief in light and darkness, more specifically and they avoid carefully the shedding of blood, except when they raise the banner of revolt. They are extremely concerned with cleanliness and purification, and with approaching people with kindness, regarding the variety of faiths, they believe that the prophets, despite the difference of their laws and their religions, do not constitute but a single spirit. Naubakhti states that also believe in reincarnation as the only existing kind of afterlife and retribution. They highly revere Abu Muslim and their imams, in their rituals, which are rather simple, they seek the greatest sacramental effect from wine and drinks. As a whole, they were estimated by Al-Maqdisi as Mazdaeans, who cover themselves under the guise of Islam. Abu Muslim Bābak Muḥammira Islamic conquest of Persia Kaysanites Shia List of extinct Shia sects Mazdak Shiism Theophobos Zoroastrianism Venetis, Encyclopaedia Iranica, ḴORRAMIS Encyclopaedia Iranica, BĀBAK ḴORRAMI

18.
Babak Khorramdin
–
Bābak Khorramdin was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān, which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be an analogous to dorustdin orthodoxy and Behdin Good Religion. Babaks Iranianizing rebellion, from its base in Adharbayjan in northwestern Iran, the Khorramdin rebellion of Babak spread to the Western and Central parts of Iran and lasted more than twenty years before it was defeated when Babak was betrayed. Babaks uprising showed the strength in Adharbayjan of ancestral Iranian local feelings. Babak is a name for Iranian males It is Arabicized for Pāpak which means young father in Middle Persian. Bābak was born into a Persian family in Adharbayjan close to the city of Artawila, according to Fasīh, his mother – a native Persian of Adharbayjan – was known as Māhrū Moon-Face/Belle. After his fathers death in his teens, Babak was given the responsibility of his two brothers and mother during a Zoroastrian ceremony in a fire temple. By the age of 18, Bābak had established himself in the city of Tabriz and was engaged in the arms trade and he also served a certain Muhammad ibn Rawwad Azdi. Later on, this engagement gave him the opportunity to travel to some regions and become familiar with regions like the Caucasus, the Middle East, in 755, Abu Muslim was murdered. This incident led to revolts, mostly by angry Zoroastrians. This, in turn, forced the Caliphs to use violence against the Iranian population in order to keep the eastern provinces under control. The constant revolts did not come to an end in the decades. Babak joined the Khurramiyyah where he met his wife and battle companion, Bābak was a highly spiritual person who respected his Zoroastrian heritage. He made every effort to bring Iranians together and also with leaders such as Maziar to form a united front against the Arab Caliph. During these most crucial years, they not only fought against the Caliphate, after the death of Javidan, Babak married Javidans wife and became the Khorramis leader, sometime in the year 816-17 during al-Mamuns reign. Babak incited his followers to rise in rebellion against the caliphal regime, the reports state that Babak called Persians to arms, seized castles and strong points, thereby barring roads to his enemies. Gradually a large multitude joined him. g. in Gorgan jointly with Red Banner Bātenis in the caliph Al-Mahdis reign in 778-79, when Amr b. The figures given for the strength of Babaks Khorramdinan army, such as 100,000 men,200,000, or innumerable are doubtless highly exaggerated, tabari records that Babak claimed he possessed Javadans spirit and that Babak became active in 816–817

19.
Adharbayjan
–
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan, also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Iranian Azerbaijan is administratively divided into West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, the region is mostly populated by Azerbaijanis, with minority populations of Kurds, Armenians, Tats, Talysh, Assyrians and Persians. Historic Azerbaijan was called Atropatene in antiquity and Aturpatakan in the pre-Islamic Middle Ages, some refer to Iranian Azerbaijan as South Azerbaijan and the Republic of Azerbaijan as Northern Azerbaijan, although others believe that these terms are irredentist and politically motivated. Since then the Azerbaijani people have been partitioned between nations, the territories south of the Aras River, which comprised the region historically known as Azerbaijan, became the new north-west frontier of the Persian Empire and later Iran. The name Azerbaijan itself is derived from Atropates, the Persian Satrap of Medea in the Achaemenid empire, Atropates name is believed to be derived from the Old Persian roots meaning protected by fire. The name is mentioned in the Avestan Frawardin Yasht, âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide which translates literally to. The name Atropat in Middle Persian was transformed to Adharbad and is connected with Zoroastrianism, a famous Zoroastrian priest by the name Adarbad Mahraspandan is well known for his counsels. Thus, until 1918, when the Musavat regime decided to name the newly independent state Azerbaijan, the oldest kingdom known in Iranian Azerbaijan is that of the Mannea who ruled a region south-east of Lake Urmia centred around modern Saqqez. The Manneans were a confederation of Iranian and non-Iranian groups, according to Professor Zadok, it is unlikely that there was any ethnolinguistic unity in Mannea. Like other peoples of the Iranian plateau, the Manneans were subjected to an ever increasing Iranian penetration, the Mannaeans were conquered and absorbed by an Iranian people called Matieni, and the country was called Matiene, with Lake Urmia called Lake Matianus. Matiene was later conquered by the Medes and became a satrapy of the Median empire, after Alexander the Great conquered Persia, he appointed as governor the Persian general Atropates, who eventually established an independent dynasty. The region, which came to be known as Atropatene or Media Atropatene, was much disputed, in the 2nd century BC, it was liberated from Seleucid domination by Mithradates I of Arsacid dynasty, and was later made a province of the Sassanid Empire of Ardashir I. Under the Sassanids, Azerbaijan was ruled by a marzubān, and, towards the end of the period, large parts of the region were conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia. Large parts of the made up part of historical Armenia. The parts of historical Armenia within what is modern-day Azerbaijan comprise, Nor Shirakan, Vaspurakan, Vaspurakan, of which large parts were located in what is modern-day Iranian Azerbaijan is described as the cradle of Armenian civilization. On 26 May 451 AD, an important battle was fought that would prove immensely pivotal in Armenian history. On the Avarayr Plain, at what is modern-day Churs, the Armenian Army under Vardan Mamikonian clashed with Sassanid Persia, heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, briefly held the region in the 7th century until peace was made with the Sassanids. After the Islamic Conquest of Iran, Arab invaders converted most of its people to Islam, rustam himself was born in Azerbaijan and led the Sasanian army into battle

Adharbayjan
–
Caspian sea and Azerbaijan position on the left side of the map in the 10th century. Original map is in Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ (صورة الارض; "The face of the Earth") Ibn Hawqal (977) Beyrut) page 419
Adharbayjan
–
Four provinces in Iranian Azerbaijan.
Adharbayjan
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An old map of Azerbaijan and its neighboring regions depicted by the Ibn Hawqal 1145 AD.
Adharbayjan
–
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154. Azerbaijan in south west of Caspian sea. South is towards the top.

20.
Mazyar
–
Mazyar, was an Iranian prince from the Qarinvand dynasty and feudal ruler of the mountainous region of Tabaristan. For his resistance to the Abbasid Caliphate, Mazyar is considered one of the heroes of Iran by twentieth-century Iranian nationalist historiography. His name means protected by the yazata of the moon, Mazyar succeeded his father Qarin ibn Vindadhhurmuzd in ca. However, his territories were invaded by the neighbouring Bavandid ruler Shahriyar I. Mazyar took refuge with his cousin Vinda-Umid, who betrayed him, however, Mazyar managed to escape and reach the court of the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun. There he met one of his astrologers, Yahya ibn al-Munajjim, Mazyar soon also embraced Islam, and al-Mamun gave him the title of Servant of the Commander of the Faithful and the Muslim name of Abul-Hasan Muhammad. Mazyar was also granted two towns in Tabaristan as his fief, and in 822/3 returned to Tabaristan with its Abbasid governor Musa ibn Hafs. Mazyar now began to take revenge against his enemies, Vinda-Umid and Shahriyars son and successor, Shapur, were defeated and killed, Mazyar now began constructing mosques in several towns, and successfully plundered the territories of another local dynasty, the Justanids. In 826/7, Musa ibn Hafs died and was succeeded by his son Muhammad ibn Musa as the governor of Tabaristan, Mazyar continued to expand his influence, but his policies were regarded by the Muslims of Tabaristan as oppressive. The Muslims of Tabaristan and the Bavandid prince Qarin I now began complaining to al-Mamun about Mazyars behavior, after al-Mamun became involved in a war against the Byzantine Empire, Mazyar used the opportunity to imprison Muhammad ibn Musa on the charge of being secretly involved with the Alids. Al-Mamun soon acknowledged Mazyars rule over Tabaristan and its surrounding regions, when al-Mamun died in 833, he was succeeded by his half-brother al-Mutasim, who also acknowledged Mazyar as the ruler of Tabaristan. However, when the Tahirid ruler Abdallah ibn Tahir demanded the payment of the land tax ) from Mazyar, Abdallah, claiming Tabaristan as his own fief, then demanded that Mazyar should release Muhammad ibn Musa. Mazyar, however, once refused to obey Abdallah. Mazyar tried to secure the loyalty of the noblemen of Tabaristan, according to the medieval historian Ibn Isfandiyar in his Tarikh-e-Tabaristan, Mazyar is said to have proclaimed, Abdallah and al-Mutasim sent five armies that entered Tabaristan from all sides. Mazyar named his brother Quhyar as the defender of the Qarinvand mountains, the people of Sari revolted against Mazyar, and Mazyar was betrayed by his brother Quhyar, who captured him and surrendered him to al-Mutasim. Mazyar was brought to Samarra, where he was executed and his body later was gibbeted along with the body of Babak Khorramdin. Mazyars brother Quhyar was shortly killed by his own Dailamite soldiers because of his betrayal of Mazyar. This marked the end of the Qarivand dynasty and this left the Tahirids as the rulers of Tabaristan, and Qarin I was restored as the ruler of the Bavand dynasty as a Tahirid vassal

Mazyar
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Map of northern Iran

21.
Tabaristan
–
Tabaristan, also known as Tapuria, was the name applied to Mazandaran, a province in northern Iran. Although the natives of the region knew it as Mazandaran, the region was called Tabaristan from the Arab conquests to the Seljuk period, the Amardians are believed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region where modern day Mazanderan and Gilan are located. The establishment of the great kingdom dates back to about the first millennium BCE when the Hyrcanian Kingdom was founded with Sadracarta as its capital. Its extent was so large that for centuries the Caspian Sea was called the Hyrcanian Ocean, the first known dynasty were the Faratatians, who ruled some centuries before Christ. During the indigenous Gushnaspian dynasty, many of the people adopted Christianity, in 418 CE, the Tapurian calendar was designed and its use implemented. The Gashnaspians ruled the region until 528 CE, when, after a period of fighting. He then chose Amol as capital of United Tapuria in 647 CE, the dynasty of Gil was known as Gavbareh in Gilan, and as the Dabuyids in eastern Tapuria. Tabaristan was one of the last parts of Persia to fall to the Muslim Conquest, maintaining resistance until 761, even after this, Tabaristan remained largely independent of direct control of the Caliphate, and underwent numerous power struggles and rebellions. In the early 9th century, for example, a Zoroastrian by the name of Mazyar rebelled, taking control of Tabaraistan, while the Dabuyids were in plain regions, the Sokhrayans governed the mountainous regions. Vandad Hormozd ruled the region for about 50 years until 1034 CE, after 1125 CE, an increase in conversion to Islam was achieved, not by the Arab Caliphs, but by the Imams ambassadors. Mazandaranis and Gilaks were one of the first groups of Iranians to convert directly to Shia Islam, pietro della Valle, who visited a town near Pirouzcow in Mazandaran, noted that Mazandarani women never wore the veil and didnt hesitate to talk to foreigners. He also noted the large amount of Circassians and Georgians in the region. Today, Persia proper, Fars, Mazanderan on the Caspian Sea, most of them remain Christian to this day, but in a very crude manner, since they have neither priest nor minister to tend them. After the Safavid period, the Qajars began to campaign south from Mazandaran with Agha Mohammad Khan who already incorporated Mazandaran into his empire in 1782, on 21 March 1782, Agha Mohammad Shah proclaimed Sari as his imperial capital. Sari was the site of local wars in those years, which led to the transfer of the capital from Sari to Tehran by Fath Ali Shah, inostranzev, M. Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature – Appendix I, Independent Zoroastrian Princes of Tabaristan

Tabaristan
–
Silver gilt dish of Tapuria, 7th–8th centuries. A tradition initiated under the Sasanians and continued after the Arab invasions. "Anuzhad" inscription in Pahlavi script, next to the reclining figure. British Museum.
Tabaristan
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The map of Tabaristan

22.
Battle of Anzen
–
The Battle of Anzen or Dazimon was fought on 22 July 838 at Anzen or Dazimon between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate. Theophilos with his army confronted the smaller Muslim army, under the Iranian vassal prince Afshin, coupled with a fierce counterattack by Afshins Turkish horse-archers, the Byzantine army broke and fled. Theophilos and his guard were besieged for a while in a hill, the defeat opened the way for the brutal sack of Amorion a few weeks later, one of the most serious blows Byzantium suffered in the centuries-long Arab–Byzantine Wars. In 829, as the young Theophilos ascended the Byzantine throne, throughout the 830s, Theophilos launched a series of campaigns against the Caliphate. These were only successful, but sufficient for the imperial propaganda to portray Theophilos in the traditional Roman manner as a victorious emperor. In response, al-Mutasim decided to launch a punitive expedition against Byzantium. A vast army was gathered at Tarsus, which was divided into two main forces. The northern force, under the Iranian vassal prince of Usrushana Afshin, would invade the Armeniac theme from the region of Melitene, joining up with the forces of the citys emir, Omar al-Aqta. The southern, main force, under the Caliph himself, would pass the Cilician Gates into Cappadocia, after the city was taken, the Arab armies would join and march to Amorion. Afshins force included, according to John Skylitzes, the army of the vassal Armenian princes. On the Byzantine side, Theophilos became soon aware of the Caliphs intentions and his army included the men from the Anatolian and possibly also the European themes, the elite tagmata regiments, as well as a contingent of Persian and Kurdish Khurramites. Under their leader Nasr, these people had fled persecution in the Caliphate, deserted to the Empire in the previous years. A few days later, on 19 June, the vanguard of the main Abbasid army also invaded Byzantine territory, Theophilos was informed of these movements in mid-July. Afshins force was smaller, but also threatened to cut off his supply lines, consequently, the Emperor left a small covering force against the Caliphs army and marched east to confront Afshin. On 21 July, the army came into view of the Arab force. The Byzantine army attacked at dawn, and initially made progress, they drove back one wing of the opposite army. Near noon, Theophilos resolved to reinforce the other wing, and detached 2,000 Byzantines, at this point, however, Afshin launched his Turkish horse-archers in a ferocious counter-attack which stymied the Byzantine advance and allowed the Arab forces to regroup. The Byzantine troops then noticed the absence, and, thinking he had been killed

Battle of Anzen
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The Byzantine army and Theophilos retreat towards a mountain, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.
Battle of Anzen
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Map of the Byzantine and Arab campaigns in the years 837–838
Battle of Anzen
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The Emperor Theophilos and his court, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes chronicle.

23.
Theophilos (emperor)
–
Theophilos was the Byzantine Emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the emperor of the Amorian dynasty and the last emperor to support iconoclasm. Theophilos personally led the armies in his war against the Arabs. Theophilos was the son of the Byzantine Emperor Michael II and his wife Thekla, Michael II crowned Theophilos co-emperor in 822, shortly after his own accession. Unlike his father, Theophilos received an education from John Hylilas, the grammarian. On 2 October 829, Theophilos succeeded his father as sole emperor, Theophilos continued in his predecessors iconoclasm, though without his fathers more conciliatory tone, issuing an edict in 832 forbidding the veneration of icons. He also saw himself as the champion of justice, which he served most ostentatiously by executing his fathers co-conspirators against Leo V immediately after his accession. His reputation as a judge endured, and in the literary composition Timarion Theophilos is featured as one of the judges in the Netherworld, at the time of his accession, Theophilos was obliged to wage wars against the Arabs on two fronts. Sicily was once invaded by the Arabs, who took Palermo after a year-long siege in 831, established the Emirate of Sicily. The invasion of Anatolia by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun in 830 was led by the Emperor himself, in 831 Theophilos retaliated by leading a large army into Cilicia and capturing Tarsus. The Emperor returned to Constantinople in triumph, but in the autumn he was defeated in Cappadocia, another defeat in the same province in 833 forced Theophilos to sue for peace, which he obtained the next year, after the death of Al-Mamun. During the respite from the war against the Abbasids, Theophilos arranged for the abduction of the Byzantine captives settled north of the Danube by Krum of Bulgaria, the rescue operation was carried out with success in c. 836, and the peace between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire was quickly restored, however, it proved impossible to maintain peace in the East. Theophilos had given asylum to a number of refugees from the east in 834, including Nasr and he baptized Theophobos, who married the Emperors aunt Irene and became one of his generals. As relations with the Abbasids deteriorated, Theophilos prepared for a new war, in 837 Theophilos led a vast army of 70,000 men towards Mesopotamia and captured Melitene and Arsamosata. The Emperor also took and destroyed Zapetra, which some sources claim as the birthplace of Caliph al-Mutasim, Theophilos returned to Constantinople in triumph. Eager for revenge, Al-Mutasim assembled a vast army and launched an invasion of Anatolia in 838. Theophilos decided to strike one division of the army before they could combine

Theophilos (emperor)
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Theophilus, in the Chronicle of John Skylitzes
Theophilos (emperor)
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Theophilos on a coin of his father, Michael II, founder of the Phrygian dynasty.
Theophilos (emperor)
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The Byzantine embassy of John the Grammarian in 829 to Ma'mun (depicted left) from Theophilos (depicted right)
Theophilos (emperor)
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Follis of a new type, minted in large quantities in celebration of Theophilos' victories against the Arabs from ca. 835 on. On the obverse he is represented in triumphal attire, wearing the toupha, and on the reverse the traditional acclamation "Theophilos Augustus, you conquer".

24.
Sack of Amorium
–
The Sack of Amorium by the Abbasid Caliphate in mid-August 838 was one of the major events in the long history of the Arab–Byzantine Wars. Mutasim targeted Amorium, a Byzantine city in western Asia Minor, because it was the birthplace of the ruling Byzantine dynasty and, at the time, the caliph gathered an exceptionally large army, which he divided in two parts, which invaded from the northeast and the south. After sacking the city, they turned south to Amorium, where arrived on 1 August. Faced with intrigues at Constantinople and the rebellion of the large Khurramite contingent of his army, Amorium was strongly fortified and garrisoned, but a traitor revealed a weak spot in the wall, where the Abbasids concentrated their attack, effecting a breach. Unable to break through the army, Boiditzes, the commander of the breached section privately attempted to negotiate with the Caliph without notifying his superiors. He concluded a truce and left his post, which allowed the Arabs to take advantage, enter the city. Amorium was systematically destroyed, never to recover its former prosperity, many of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and the remainder driven off as slaves. The conquest of Amorium was not only a military disaster and a heavy personal blow for Theophilos. As Iconoclasm relied heavily on military success for its legitimization, the fall of Amorium contributed decisively to its abandonment shortly after Theophiloss death in 842. By 829, when the young emperor Theophilos ascended the Byzantine throne, Theophilos was an ambitious man and also a convinced adherent of Byzantine Iconoclasm, which prohibited the depiction of divine figures and the veneration of icons. He sought to bolster his regime and support his religious policies by military success against the Abbasid Caliphate, the Empires major antagonist. He assembled a large army, some 70,000 fighting men and 100,000 in total according to al-Tabari. Theophiloss campaign was unable, however, to save Babak and his followers, Babak fled to Armenia, but was betrayed to the Abbasids and died of torture. With the Khurramite threat over, the caliph began marshalling his forces for a campaign against Byzantium. A huge Arab army gathered at Tarsus, according to the most reliable account, other writers give far larger numbers, ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 according to al-Masudi. Unlike earlier campaigns, which did not go far beyond attacking the forts of the frontier zone, the great city of Amorium in particular was the intended prize. It is the eye and foundation of Christendom, among the Byzantines, according to Byzantine sources, the caliph had the citys name written on the shields and banners of his soldiers. The capital of the powerful Anatolic Theme, the city was located at the western edge of the Anatolian plateau

Sack of Amorium
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Follis of a new type, minted in large quantities in celebration of Theophilos's victories against the Arabs from ca. 835 on. On the obverse, he is represented in triumphal attire, wearing the toupha, and on the reverse the traditional acclamation "Theophilos Augustus, you conquer".
Sack of Amorium
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Emperor Theophilos flees after the Battle of Anzen, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript
Sack of Amorium
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Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes depicting the Arab siege of Amorium
Sack of Amorium
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Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes depicting the embassy of the tourmarches Basil to al-Mu'tasim (seated) after the fall of Amorium.

25.
Amorium
–
Amorium was a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor which was founded in the Hellenistic period, flourished under the Byzantine Empire, and declined after the Arab sack of 838. It was situated on the Byzantine military road from Constantinople to Cilicia and its ruins and höyük are located under and around the modern village of Hisarköy,13 kilometers east of the district center, Emirdağ, Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. Amorium is the Latinized version of its original Greek name Amorion, arab/Islamic sources refer to the city as ʿAmmūriye. Under Ottoman rule the site, which never regained importance, was called Hergen Kale, the city minted its own coins beginning between 133 BC to 27 BC until the 3rd century AD, indicating its maturity as a settlement and military importance during the pre-Byzantine period. Amorium then must have been prestigious and prosperous, but early historical records that mention the city are strictly limited to a reference by Strabo, although it is expected that new discoveries will shed light on the citys Roman period and before. The city was fortified by the emperor Zeno in the 5th century and its strategic location in central Asia Minor made the city a vital stronghold against the armies of the Arab Caliphate following the Muslim conquest of the Levant. The city was first attacked by Muʿāwiya in 646 and it capitulated to ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Khalid in 666 and was occupied by Yazid I in 669, then retaken by Constans IIs general Andreas. Over the next two centuries, it remained a frequent target of Muslim raids into Asia Minor, especially during the sieges of 716 and 796. It became capital of the thema of Anatolikon soon after, in 742-743, it was the main base of Emperor Constantine V against the usurper Artabasdos, and in 820, an Amorian, Michael II, ascended the Byzantine throne, establishing the Amorian dynasty. This began the period of the citys greatest prosperity, when it became the largest city in Asia Minor, the town was rebuilt, but was burned by Thamal al-Dulafi in 931. Nonetheless, it remained an active Byzantine city at least into the 11th century, following the Battle of Manzikert, it was devastated by the Seljuks and a large proportion of its inhabitants were killed. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos defeated the Seljuks at Amorium in 1116 and it remained an important place in the 12th-14th centuries according to al-Idrisi and Hamdallah Mustawfi. Amorium was a bishopric at latest by 431, when its bishop, the acts of the earlier First Council of Constantinople were signed by a priest, Tyrannus, of Amorium. Theophilus was part of the mission that Photius sent to Rome about 20 years earlier, in the Notitiae Episcopatuum of Pseudo-Epiphanius, Amorium appears as a suffragan of Pessinus, capital of Galatia Salutaris. It appears with the rank in another of the end of the 8th century. There is no longer any mention of the see in the 14th-century Notitiae Episcopatuum, no longer a residential bishopric, Amorium is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Following the 838 sack,42 officers and notables of Amorium were taken as hostages to Samarra, refusing to convert to Islam, they were executed there in 845, and became canonized as the 42 Martyrs of Amorium. Amoriums site was unknown, though its name appears on many maps of the 18th and 19th centuries

26.
Al-Tabari
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Today, he is best known for his expertise in tafsir, fiqh, and history, but he has been described as an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on subjects as poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics. His most influential and best known works are his Quranic commentary known as Tafsir al-Tabari and his historical chronicle Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, although it eventually became extinct, al-Tabaris madhhab flourished among Sunni ulama for two centuries after his death. It was usually designated by the name Jariri, Tabari was born in Amol, Tabaristan in the winter of 838–9. He memorized the Quran at seven, was a prayer leader at eight. He left home to study in 236AH when he was twelve and he retained close ties to his home town. He returned at least twice, the time in 290AH when his outspokenness caused some uneasiness. He first went to Rayy, where he remained for five years. A major teacher in Rayy was Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Razi, while in Ray, he also studied Muslim jurisprudence according to the Hanafi school. Among other material, ibn Humayd taught Jarir Tabari the historical works of ibn Ishaq, especially al-Sirah, Tabari was thus introduced in youth to pre-Islamic and early Islamic history. Tabari quotes ibn Humayd frequently, but little is known about Tabaris other teachers in Rayy, Tabari then travelled to study in Baghdad under ibn Hanbal, who, however, had recently died. Tabari possibly made a prior to his first arrival in Baghdad. He left Baghdad probably in 242 A. H. to travel through the cities of Basra, Kufah. There, he met a number of eminent and venerable scholars, in addition to his previous study of Hanafi law, Tabari also studied the Shafii, Maliki and Zahiri rites. Tabaris study of the school was with the founder, Dawud al-Zahiri. Tabari was, then, well-versed in four of the five remaining Sunni legal schools before founding his own independent, yet eventually extinct and his debates with his former teachers and classmates were known, and served as a demonstration of said independence. Notably missing from this list is the Hanbali school, the fourth largest legal school within Sunni Islam in the present era, Tabaris view of Ibn Hanbal, the schools founder, became decidedly negative later in life. On his return to Baghdad, he took a position from the vizier

27.
Soghdia
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Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great. In the Avesta, Sogdiana is listed as the second best land that the supreme deity Ahura Mazda had created and it comes second, after Airyanem Vaejah, homeland of the Aryans, in the Zoroastrian book of Vendidad, indicating the importance of this region from ancient times. Sogdiana was conquered by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC and later formed part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the Sogdian states, although never politically united, were centred on the main city of Samarkand. Sogdiana lay north of Bactria, east of Khwarezm, and southeast of Kangju between the Oxus and the Jaxartes, embracing the valley of the Zeravshan. Sogdian territory corresponds to the provinces of Samarkand and Bokhara in modern Uzbekistan as well as the Sughd province of modern Tajikistan. During the High Middle Ages, Sogdian cities included sites stretching towards Issyk Kul such as that at the site of Suyab. Sogdian, an Eastern Iranian language, is no longer a spoken language and it was widely spoken in Central Asia as a lingua franca and even served as one of the Turkic Khaganates court languages for writing documents. Sogdians also lived in Imperial China and rose to prominence in the military. Sogdian merchants and diplomats traveled as far west as the Byzantine Empire and they played an important part as middlemen in the trade route of the Silk Road. The Sogdian conversion to Islam was virtually complete by the end of the Samanid Empire in 999, coinciding with the decline of the Sogdian language, as it was largely supplanted by Persian. The restored Scythian name is *Skuda, which among the Pontic or Royal Scythians became *Skula, according to Szemerényi, Sogdiana was named from the Skuda form. This large-scale migration included Eastern Iranian speaking peoples such as the Sogdians, Achaemenid ruler Cyrus the Great conquered Sogdiana while campaigning in Central Asia in 546–539 BC, a fact mentioned by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories. Darius I introduced the Aramaic writing system and coin currency to Central Asia, in addition to incorporating Sogdians into his army as regular soldiers. A contingent of Sogdian soldiers fought in the army of Xerxes I during his ultimately failed invasion of Greece in 480 BC. A Persian inscription from Susa claims that the palace there was adorned with lapis lazuli, given the absence of any named satraps for Sogdiana in historical records, modern scholarship has concluded that Sogdiana was governed from the satrapy of nearby Bactria. The satraps were often relatives of the ruling Persian kings, especially sons who were not designated as the heir apparent, Sogdiana likely remained under Persian control until roughly 400 BC, during the reign of Artaxerxes II. Rebellious states of the Persian Empire took advantage of the weak Artaxerxes II, persias massive loss of Central Asian territory is widely attributed to the rulers lack of control. However, unlike Egypt, which was recaptured by the Persian Empire

Soghdia
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Sogdians, depicted on a Chinese Sogdian sarcophagus of the Northern Qi era.
Soghdia
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Sogdiana, c. 300 BC.
Soghdia
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Gold coin of Diodotus c. 250 BC.
Soghdia
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Barbaric copy of a coin of Euthydemus I, from the region of Sogdiana. The legend on the reverse is in Aramaic script.

28.
Fourth Fitna
–
The Fourth Fitna or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Mamun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, had named al-Amin as the first successor, later a third son, al-Qasim, had been designated as third successor. After Harun died in 809, al-Amin succeeded him in Baghdad, encouraged by the Baghdad court, al-Amin began trying to subvert the autonomous status of Khurasan, and al-Qasim was quickly sidelined. In response, al-Mamun sought the support of the provincial élites of Khurasan, as the rift between the two brothers and their respective camps widened, al-Amin declared his own son Musa as his heir and assembled a large army. In 811, al-Amins troops marched against Khurasan, but al-Mamuns general Tahir ibn Husayn defeated them in the Battle of Rayy, the city fell after a year, al-Amin was executed, and al-Mamun became Caliph. Al-Mamun chose to remain in Khurasan, however, rather than coming to the capital and this allowed the power vacuum which the civil war had fostered in the Caliphates provinces to grow, and several local rulers sprang up in Jazira, Syria and Egypt. Consequently, al-Mamuns uncle Ibrahim was proclaimed rival Caliph at Baghdad in 817, Fadl ibn Sahl was assassinated and al-Mamun left Khurasan for Baghdad, which he entered in 819. The next years saw the consolidation of authority and the re-incorporation of the western provinces against local rebels. Some local rebellions, however, notably that of the Khurramites, historians have interpreted the conflict variously, in the words of the Iranologist Elton L. Rabi and al-Fadl b. Sahl, or as a struggle between Arabs and Persians for the control of the government, the origins of the civil war lie in the succession arrangements of Harun al-Rashid, as well as the internal political dynamics of the Abbasid Caliphate. The two main contenders, Muhammad al-Amin and Abdallah al-Mamun, were six months apart in AH170. While al-Mamuns origin was less prestigious than the purely Arab al-Amin, his ties to Khurasan, in contrast to the exclusively Arab-ruled Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid state was under heavy Iranian, and particularly Khurasani, influence. The Abbasid Revolution, which brought the Abbasids to power, originated in Khurasan, and the Abbasid dynasty relied heavily on Khurasanis as military leaders and administrators. Many of the original Khurasani Arab army that came west with the Abbasids were given estates in Iraq and the new Abbasid capital, Baghdad, both al-Amin and al-Mamun had been tutored in their youth by the Barmakids, al-Amin by al-Fadl ibn Yahya and al-Mamun by Jafar ibn Yahya. While al-Amin would distance himself from the Barmakids and become associated with the abnaʾ aristocracy of Baghdad, al-Mamun remained influenced by Jafar. A third son, al-Qasim, was added as third heir. Almost immediately after it returned to Baghdad, in January 803 and this led to unrest in the provinces, especially Khurasan, where, according to Elton L. Daniel, Abbasid policies between two extremes. One governor would attempt to extract as much wealth as he could from the province for the benefit of Iraq, the central government, when the people protested loudly enough, such governors would be temporarily replaced by ones who would attend to local interests

Fourth Fitna
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Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates
Fourth Fitna
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The Imam Reza shrine, erected over the grave of Ali ibn Musa al-Rida
Fourth Fitna
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The Caliph al-Ma'mun (left) as depicted in the 13th-century Madrid Skylitzes manuscript, seen receiving the embassy of John the Grammarian in 829, sent by the Byzantine emperor Theophilos (depicted right)

29.
Yemen
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Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, although Yemens constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, the city has been under rebel control since February 2015. Because of this, Yemens capital has been relocated to the port city of Aden. Yemens territory includes more than 200 islands, the largest of these is Socotra, Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans, a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and probably also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom, Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established. Islam spread quickly in the century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests. Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult, several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the twentieth century. The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later, a Marxist state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990, Yemen is a developing country, and the poorest country in the Middle East. Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen was described as a kleptocracy, according to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed. President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency. In September 2014, the Houthis took over Sanaa, later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup détat, since then, a Saudi-led intervention has taken place, however, it could not stop the civil war. Instead, the Saudis and the others have destroyed some hospitals, schools and homes, Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions as Yamnat. In Arabic literature, the term includes much greater territory than that of the republic of Yemen. It stretches from the northern Asir Region in southwestern Saudi Arabia to Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, one etymology derives Yemen from yumn, meaning felicity, as much of the country is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix, as opposed to Arabia Deserta, al-Yaman significantly plays on the notion of the land to the right, when in Mecca facing the dawn, complementary to Al-Sham, the Land to the Left, referring to the Levant

30.
Mecca
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Mecca or Makkah is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also capital of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km inland from Jeddah in a valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although more than triple this number every year during the hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, by majority description Islams holiest site, Mecca was long ruled by Muhammads descendants, the sharifs, acting either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger polities. It was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, during this expansion, Mecca has lost some historical structures and archaeological sites, such as the Ajyad Fortress. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj, as a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Muslim world, despite the fact that non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city. The Saudi government adopted Makkah as the spelling in the 1980s. The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah or Makkatu l-Mukarramah, which means Mecca the Honored, the ancient or early name for the site of Mecca is Bakkah. An Arabic language word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure, the form Bakkah is used for the name Mecca in the Quran in 3,96, while the form Mecca is used in 48,24. In South Arabic, the language in use in the portion of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. Other references to Mecca in the Quran call it Umm al-Qurā, another name of Mecca is Tihamah. Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah, yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, wrote that Fārān was an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah, Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, a municipal council of fourteen locally elected members headed by a mayor appointed by the Saudi government. As of May 2015, the mayor of the city was Dr. Osama bin Fadhel Al-Bar, Mecca is the capital of the Makkah Region, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The provincial governor was prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from 2000 until his death in 2007, on 16 May 2007, prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud was appointed as the new governor. The early history of Mecca is still disputed, as there are no unambiguous references to it in ancient literature prior to the rise of Islam. The Roman Empire took control of part of the Hejaz in 106 AD, ruling cities such as Hegra, even though detailed descriptions were established of Western Arabia by Rome, such as by Procopius, there are no references of a pilgrimage and trading outpost such as Mecca. The first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, claims have been made this could be a reference to the Kaaba in Mecca

31.
Alid
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The Alids are the dynasties descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims consider him the First Imam appointed by Muhammad and the first rightful caliph, primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif or sherif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of Prophet Muhammad, through the marriage of his cousin Ali, however ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms sayyid and habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn, see also ashraf. Although not 100% complete in its scope the resulting Kitab al-Ashraf, many scholars have cast doubt on this claim, and there seems to be consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Persian Kurdistan. Al Qasimi dynasty of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, claims descent from the 10th Imam, the Alid Dynasty of the Isaaq clan or Banu Isaaq clan of Somalia, who are descended from Ali through their ancestor Isaaq ibn Ahmad al Hashimi. Today, the Isaaq clan form the majority of the territory of Somaliland. The Alid Dynasty of the Muse clan or Banu Muse clan of Somalia, today, the Muse clan formed the minority of the northern territory of Somaliland. This is a table of the interrelationships between the different parts of the Alid dynasties, Below is a family tree of Husayn ibn Ali. For the ancestors of ibn Ali see the tree of Muhammad. People in italics are considered by the majority of Shia and Sunni Muslims to be Ahl al-Bayt, twelver Shia also see the 4th to 12th Imamah as Ahl al-Bayt

32.
Umayyad
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The Umayyad Caliphate, also spelled Omayyad, was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty, hailing from Mecca, Syria remained the Umayyads main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km2 and 62 million people, the Umayyad Caliphate was secular by nature. At the time, the Umayyad taxation and administrative practice were perceived as unjust by some Muslims, Muhammad had stated explicitly during his lifetime that Abrahamic religious groups, should be allowed to practice their own religion, provided that they paid the jizya taxation. The welfare state of both the Muslim and the poor started by Umar ibn al Khattab had also continued, financed by the zakat tax levied only on Muslims. Muawiyas wife Maysum was also a Christian, the relations between the Muslims and the Christians in the state were stable in this time. Prominent positions were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments, the employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious assimilation that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in Syria. This policy also boosted Muawiyas popularity and solidified Syria as his power base, the rivalries between the Arab tribes had caused unrest in the provinces outside Syria, most notably in the Second Muslim Civil War of AD 680–692 and the Berber Revolt of 740–743. During the Second Civil War, leadership of the Umayyad clan shifted from the Sufyanid branch of the family to the Marwanid branch. A branch of the family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established the Caliphate of Córdoba, according to tradition, the Umayyad family and Muhammad both descended from a common ancestor, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, and they originally came from the city of Mecca. Muhammad descended from Abd Manāf via his son Hashim, while the Umayyads descended from Abd Manaf via a different son, Abd-Shams, the two families are therefore considered to be different clans of the same tribe. However Muslim Shia historians suspect that Umayya was a son of Abd Shams so he was not a blood relative of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Umayya was later discarded from the noble family, Sunni historians disagree with this and view Shia claims as nothing more than outright polemics due to their hostility to the Umayyad family in general. While the Umayyads and the Hashimites may have had bitterness between the two clans before Muhammad, the rivalry turned into a case of tribal animosity after the Battle of Badr. The battle saw three top leaders of the Umayyad clan killed by Hashimites in a three-on-three melee and this fueled the opposition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the grandson of Umayya, to Muhammad and to Islam. Abu Sufyan sought to exterminate the adherents of the new religion by waging another battle with Muslims based in Medina only a year after the Battle of Badr and he did this to avenge the defeat at Badr. The Battle of Uhud is generally believed by scholars to be the first defeat for the Muslims, as they had incurred greater losses than the Meccans

33.
Gustav Droysen
–
Johann Gustav Droysen was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called great men, Droysen was born at Treptow in Pomerania. His father, Johann Christoph Droysen, was a chaplain who had been present at the celebrated siege of Kolberg in 1806–1807. These youthful impressions laid the foundation of his ardent attachment to the Kingdom of Prussia, the famed historian Jacob Burckhardt visited his class in his last semester. It was in ways the herald of a new school of German historical thought, for it idealized power and success. A new and revised edition of the work was published in 1885, and translated into French. His Vorlesung des Freiheits Krieg appeared in 1846 and his Outlines of the Principles of History, published 1858 and he followed this with Erhebung der Geschichte zum Rang einer Wissenschaft, a methodological study that reflected his new approach to research and writing. In 1840, Droysen was appointed professor of history at Kiel, there, the political movement for the defense of the rights of the Elbe duchies, of which Kiel was the center, attracted his interest. The issue was diplomatically negotiated through the London Protocol of 1852, Droysens first great political appearance occurred in 1843, on the one thousand year anniversary of the Verdun agreement between Karl the Bald and Ludwig the German, grandsons of Charlemagne. The patrimony of Charlemagne, and his son, Louis the Pius, later, Droysen gave a lecture to a crowded audience in Berlin entitled the Agreement at Verdun, which was greeted with enthusiasm not only by the listeners but also the German Kaiser himself. In 1848 he was elected a member of the revolutionary Frankfurt parliament and he was a determined supporter of Prussian ascendancy, seeing this as the only feasible route to German unification. We cannot conceal the fact that the whole German question is an alternative between Prussia and Austria. In these states, German life has its positive and negative poles — in the former, all the interests which are national and reformative, in the latter, all that are dynastic and destructive. The German question is not a question, but a question of power. Droysen was one of the first members to retire from the Frankfurt Parliament after King Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the crown in 1849. A translation was published in London in the year under the title The Policy of Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The work was one of political importance and contributed to the formation of German public opinion on the rights of the duchies in their struggle with Denmark. In his later years he was almost entirely occupied with Prussian history, after 1851 Droysen was appointed to a professorship at Jena, in 1859 he was called to Berlin, where he remained until his death

Gustav Droysen
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Gustav Droysen

34.
Central Asia
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Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also referred to as the -stans as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix -stan. Central Asias five former Soviet republics are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. It has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, the Silk Road connected Muslim lands with the people of Europe, India, and China. This crossroads position has intensified the conflict between tribalism and traditionalism and modernization, in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was predominantly Iranian, peopled by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians and Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Parthians. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan, the idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions, historically built political geography and geoculture are two significant parameters widely used in the scholarly literature about the definitions of the Central Asia. The most limited definition was the one of the Soviet Union. This definition was also used outside the USSR during this period. However, the Russian culture has two terms, Средняя Азия and Центральная Азия. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia, the UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity and these areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan, the Tibetans and Ladakhi are also included. Insofar, most of the peoples are considered the indigenous peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is a large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains, vast deserts. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe. Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming, the Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° E, to the Great Khingan Mountains, 116°–118° E. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes, The worlds northernmost desert, at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, the Northern Hemispheres southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17′ N

35.
Samanid
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The Samanid Empire, also known as the Samanid dynasty, Samanid Emirate, or simply Samanids, was a Sunni Iranian empire, ruling from 819 to 999. The Samanid state was founded by four brothers, Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, in 892, Ismail ibn Ahmad united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was also under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority, the Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world. This would lead to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture, the Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory, scholars note that the Samanids revived Persian more than the Buyids and the Saffarids, while continuing to patronize Arabic to a smaller degree. In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared that here, in region, the language is Persian. The eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty was Saman Khuda, a Persian noble who belonged to a dehqan family, the latter is more probable since the earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in Khorasan rather than Transoxiana. Originally a Zoroastrian, Saman Khuda converted to Islam during the governorship of Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri in Khorasan and this marked the beginning of the Samanid dynasty. He was defeated at a battle near Pushang in 857, and fled to Nishapur, the Tahirids thereafter assumed direct control over Herat. In 839/40, Nuh seized Isfijab from the nomadic pagan Turks living in the steppe and he thereafter had a wall constructed around the city to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2—his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad, were appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan. After Yahyas death in 855, Ahmad took control over Shash and he died in 864/5, his son Nasr I received Farghana and Samarkand, while his other son Yaqub received Shash. Nasr I used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother Ismail to Bukhara, when Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants, who saw him as one who could restore order. Although the Bukhar Khudahs continued to rule in Bukhara for a few more years. After not so long, disagreement over where tax money should be distributed, started a conflict between the brothers, Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle, and took control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had invested with Transoxiana. Because of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless and he thereafter forced the Abbasid caliph to recognize him as the ruler of those territories, which they did. In the spring of 900, he clashed with Ismail near Balkh, Ismail thereafter sent him Baghdad, where he was executed

36.
Mashriq
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The Mashriq is the region of the Arab world to the east of Egypt. This comprises Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, poetically the place of sunrise, the name is derived from the verb sharaqa, referring to the east, where the sun rises. As it refers to countries bounded between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, it is the term to Maghreb, the western part of North Africa. Similarly, Libya is itself bifurcated between Mashriq and Maghrib influences, with its eastern part linked more to Egypt and the Mashriq and these geographical terms date from the early Islamic expansion. This region is similar to the Bilad al-Sham and Mesopotamia regions combined, as the Mashriq is home to several pilgrimage sites, some Muslims view it as a source of religious legitimacy. Mashriqi learning is also esteemed by scholars from the Maghrib, as of 2014, the Mashriq is home to 1. 7% of the global population. Al-Sham Fertile Crescent Cradle of civilization Greater Syria Levant Maghreb Mesopotamia

Mashriq
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Map depicting the area known as the Mashriq.

37.
Mamluk
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Mamluk is an Arabic designation for slaves. The term is most commonly used to refer to Muslim slave soldiers and these were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin, over time, the mamluks became a powerful military knightly caste in various societies that were controlled by Muslim rulers. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Mesopotamia, in some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as emirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on Egypt and Syria, the Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European Christian Crusaders in 1154-1169 and 1213-1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt, in 1302 the mamluks formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, in a sense they were like enslaved mercenaries. In the Middle Ages, the Mamlukes took up the practice of furusiyya chivalry although Mamluk knights were slaves until their service ended, the Arabic term for a knight was fāris, The faris and the notion of furusiyya originated in pre-Muslim Persian brotherhoods. Within the Muslim world, the fursān became prized as ideal warriors and they were also trained in wrestling, and their martial skills were honed first on foot as piéton and then perfected when as mounted warriors. They were popularly used as heavy knightly cavalry by a number of different Islamic kingdoms and empires, including the Ayyubid dynasty, the origins of the mamluk system are disputed. Historians agree that a military caste such as the mamluks appeared to develop in Islamic societies beginning with the ninth-century Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. When in the century has not been determined. Up until the 1990s, it was believed that the earliest mamluks were known as ghilman and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs. By the end of the 9th century, such warrior slaves had become the dominant element in the military, conflict between these ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Mutasim to move his capital to the city of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave-soldiers in 861, adult slaves and freemen both served as warriros. The mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s and it included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills. The Mamluk system is considered to have been an experiment of al-Muwaffaq. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted, after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either mamluks or ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power

38.
Manumit
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Manumission, from manumit /ˌmænjəˈmɪt/, is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a slave system. The motivations of slave owners in manumitting slaves were complex and varied, firstly, manumission may present itself as a sentimental and benevolent gesture. One typical scenario was the freeing in the masters will of a servant after long years of service. A trusted bailiff might be manumitted as a gesture of gratitude, for working as agricultural laborers or in workshops. Such feelings of benevolence may have been of value to slave owners themselves as it allowed them to focus on a component in the human traffic of slavery. In general, it was common for older slaves to be given freedom. Legislation under the early Roman Empire put limits on the number of slaves that could be freed in wills, freeing slaves could serve the pragmatic interests of the owner. The prospect of manumission worked as an incentive for slaves to be industrious, Roman slaves were paid a wage with which they could save up to, in effect, buy themselves. Manumission contracts found in abundance at Delphi specify in detail the prerequisites for liberation. Manumission was not always charitable or altruistic, in one of the stories in the Arabian Nights, in the Sir Richard Francis Burton translation, a slave owner threatens to free his slave for lying to him. The slave says, thou shall not manumit me, for I have no handicraft whereby to gain my living, greek slaves were generally not permitted to become citizens on being manumitted, being merely allowed to remain as a metic. Even in freedom, the ex-slave could be bound to some continuing duty to the master and were required to live nearby the former master. Breaches of these conditions could lead to beatings, prosecution at law, sometimes extra payments were specified by which a freed slave could liberate himself from these residual duties. But ex-slaves were able to own property outright, and their children were free of all constraint, under Roman law, a slave had no personhood and was protected under law mainly as his or her masters property. In ancient Rome, a slave who had been manumitted was a libertus, a freed slave customarily took his or her former owners family name, that is, the nomen of his or her masters gens. The former owner became his or her patron, as a client, the freed person retained certain obligations to his or her master, who in turn owed mutual favors. A freed slave could also acquire multiple patrons, a freed slave became a citizen

39.
Egypt in the Middle Ages
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In 1174, Egypt came under the rule of Ayyubids that lasted until 1252. The Ayyubids were overthrown by their bodyguards, known as the Mamluks, who ruled under the suzerainty of Abbasid Caliphs until 1517, when Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire. In 639 an army of some 4,000 men were sent against Egypt by the caliph, Umar. This army was joined by another 5,000 men in 640, Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria, which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on November 8,641. Alexandria was regained for the Byzantine Empire in 645 but was retaken by Amr in 646, in 654 an invasion fleet sent by Constans II was repulsed. From that time no serious effort was made by the Byzantines to regain possession of the country, following the first surrender of Alexandria, Amr chose a new site to settle his men, near the location of the Byzantine fortress of Babylon. The new settlement received the name of Fustat, after Amrs tent, after the conquest, the country was initially divided in two provinces, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt with the Nile Delta. In 643/4, however, Caliph Uthman appointed a governor with jurisdiction over all of Egypt. The governor would in turn nominate deputies for Upper and Lower Egypt, Alexandria remained a distinct district, reflecting both its role as the countrys shield against Byzantine attacks, and as the major naval base. It was considered a fortress under a military governor and was heavily garrisoned. Next to the wāli, there was also the commander of the police, responsible for internal security, the main pillar of the early Muslim rule and control in the country was the military force, or jund, staffed by the Arab settlers. These were initially the men who had followed Amr and participated in the conquest, initially, they numbered 15,500, but their numbers grew through emigration in the subsequent decades. By the time of Caliph Muawiya I, the number of men registered in the army list, jealous of their privileges and status, which entitled them to a share of the local revenue, the members of the jund then virtually closed off the register to new entries. It was only after the losses of the Second Fitna that the registers were updated, conversions of Copts to Islam were initially rare, and the old system of taxation was maintained for the greater part of the first Islamic century. During the First Fitna, Caliph Ali appointed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governor of Egypt, Amr then served as governor until his death in 664. From 667/8 until 682, the province was governed by another fervent pro-Umayyad partisan, during the Second Fitna, Ibn al-Zubayr gained the support of the Kharijites in Egypt and sent a governor of his own, Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri, to the province. The Kharijite-backed Zubayrid regime was unpopular with the local Arabs. In December 684, Marwan invaded Egypt and reconquered it with relative ease, Marwan installed his son Abd al-Aziz as governor

40.
Bilad al-Sham
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Bilad al-Sham was a Rashidun, Umayyad and later Abbasid Caliphate province in the region of Syria. The name Bilad aš-Šām means land to the north, or literally land on the left-hand, the name given to the Levant by the Arab conquerors was Aš-Šām The North. The population of the region did not become predominantly Muslim and Arab in identity until nearly a millennium after the conquest, following the Muslim conquest, Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan of the Banu Umayya governed Syria for twenty years and developed the province as his familys powerbase. Relying on Syrian military support, Muawiyah emerged as the victor in the First Fitna, during Umayyad times, al-Sham was divided into five junds or military districts. The initial districts were Jund al-Urdunn, Jund Dimashq, Jund Hims, Jund Filastin, later, Jund Qinnasrin was carved out of part of Jund Hims. Syria became much less important under the Abbasid Caliphate, which succeeded the Umayyads in 750, the Abbasids moved the capital first to Kufa and then to Baghdad and Samarra in Iraq, which now became the most important province. The mainly Arab Syrians were marginalized by Iranian and Turkish forces who rose to power under the Abbasids, from 878 until 905, Syria came under the effective control of the Tulunids of Egypt, but Abbasid control was re-established soon thereafter. It lasted until the 940s, when the province was partitioned between the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo in the north and Ikhshidid-controlled Egypt in the south. The division of Syria into northern and southern parts would persist, despite political changes, Palaestina Prima Syria Palaestina Aigle, Denise, ed. Le Bilād al-Šām face aux mondes extérieurs, la perception de lAutre et la représentation du Souverain

Bilad al-Sham

41.
Abdallah ibn Tahir
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Abdallah ibn Tahir was the Tahirid governor of Khurasan from 828 until his death. He is perhaps the most famous of the Tahirids, Abdallahs early career consisted serving with his father Tahir ibn Husayn in pacifying the lands of the Abbasid Caliphate following the civil war between al-Amin and al-Mamun. He later succeeded his father as governor of Al-Jazira, with the task of defeating the rebel Nasr ibn Shabath and he was then sent to Egypt, where he successfully ended an uprising led by Abd-Allah ibn al-Sari. Although Abdallah had been made the governor of Khurasan following his brothers death in 828, he arrived in Nishapur in 830. He was assigned for a time in 829 to stop the Khurramite Babak. Abdallahs brother Ali acted as deputy governor of Khurasan until he was ready to take up residence in Nishapur, during his reign as governor Abdallah was occupied with affairs on both the eastern and western parts of his territories. In the east, he took steps to improving the strength of the Samanids, the Samanids were important, as they controlled the trade between Central Asia and the central Caliphate, including the trade of Turkish slaves. Also in the east in 834 an Alid, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, revolted in Juzjan, in the west, meanwhile, Abdallah came into conflict with the local ruler of Tabaristan, the Ispahbadh Mazyar. As the ruler of the east, Abdallah claimed Tabaristan as a dependency and insisted that the tribute owed by Mazyar to the caliph should pass through him. Mazyar, however, was looking to expand his dominion and wanted to be free of Tahirid influence, so he refused to accept this, in this struggle Mazyar had the support of the Afshin, who allegedly wanted to control the Tahirid lands himself. Abdallah was able to turn the caliph against Mazyar, and in 839 was ordered to stop the Ispahbad, Mazyar, a recent convert to Islam, heavily relied on the Zoroastrians of the province but in the end was captured, sent to Iraq and executed. Tahirid control over Tabaristan was therefore secured until the Zaydid revolt of 864, during the same year in 839, a earthquake occurred in Farghana, destroying much of the city. Abdallah died in Nishapur, either at the end of 844 or in 845 and he was succeeded by his son Tahir. According to the famous Seljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk, Abdallah was buried in Nishapur, the Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4, From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century

Abdallah ibn Tahir
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Map of the Tahirid dynasty

42.
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
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Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. This region is approximately correspondent with what was Assyria from the 25th century BC through to the mid-7th century AD and it extends down the Tigris to Samarra and down the Euphrates to Hit. The Khabur River runs for over 400 km across the plain, from Turkey in the north, the major settlements are Mosul, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Al Hasakah, Diyarbakır and Qamishli. The western, Syrian part, is contiguous with the Syrian Al-Hasakah Governorate and is described as Syrias breadbasket. The eastern, Iraqi part, includes and extends slightly beyond the Iraqi Ninewa Governorate, in the north it includes the Turkish provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin, and parts of Diyarbakır Province. The name al-Jazira has been used since the 7th century CE by Islamic sources to refer to the section of Mesopotamia. The name means island, and at one time referred to the land between the two rivers, which in Aramaic is Bit Nahren. Historically the name referred to as little as the Sinjar plain coming down from the Sinjar Mountains, in pre-Abbasid times the western and eastern boundaries seem to have fluctuated, sometimes including what is now northern Syria to the west and Adiabene in the east. Al-Jazira is characterised as an outwash or alluvial plain, quite distinct from the Syrian Desert and lower-lying central Mesopotamia, however the area includes eroded hills, the region has several parts to it. In the northwest is one of the largest salt flats in the world, further south, extending from Mosul to near Basra is a sandy desert not unlike the Empty Quarter. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the region has been plagued by drought and this is the area where the earliest signs of agriculture and domestication of animals have been found, and thus the starting point leading to civilization and the modern world. Al-Jazirah includes the mountain Karaca Dağ in southern Turkey, where the closest relative to modern wheat still grows wild, domestication of goats and sheep followed within a few generations, but didnt become widespread for more than a millennium. Weaving and pottery followed about two years later. Further surprises followed in the 1990s with the finds of the megalithic structures at Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey. The earliest of these apparently ritual buildings are from before 9000 BC—over five thousand years older than Stonehenge—and thus the absolute oldest known megalithic structures anywhere, as far as we know today no well-established farming societies existed at the time. Farming seemed to be experimental and only a smallish supplement to continued hunting and gathering. After all, Göbekli Tepe lies just 32 km from Karaca Dağ, the questions raised by Göbekli Tepe have led to intense and creative discussions among archeologists of the Middle East. Excavations at Göbekli Tepe continues, only about 5 percent has been revealed so far, Upper Mesopotamia is the heartland of ancient Assyria, founded circa the 25th century BC

43.
Thughur
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It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests ebbed, and lasted until the mid-10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as the al-thughūr, and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, on the Byzantine side, the Muslim marches were mirrored by the institution of the kleisourai districts and the akritai border guards. Both Emperor Heraclius and the Caliph ʿUmar pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, for the next two centuries, border fortresses might change hands between Byzantines and Arabs, but the basic outline of the Arab–Byzantine border remained essentially unaltered. The Muslims began to move into the area, reoccupying and repairing the abandoned towns, the process began under the Umayyads, but intensified under the first Abbasids, especially during the rule of Harun al-Rashid. Thus a line of forts was established, stretching from Tarsus on the Mediterranean coast to Malatya. These were located at choke points, located at the intersections of major roads or at the mouths of important passes. The entire frontier zone was part of the jund of Homs. Manbij and later Antioch were the new provinces capitals, the Thughūr, the actual frontier zone, was divided into the Cilician or Syrian and the Jaziran or Mesopotamian sectors, roughly separated by the Amanus mountains. There was no overall governor or administrative centre for the Thughūr, although Tarsus and Malatya emerged as the most important towns in Cilicia and the Mesopotamian sector respectively. In addition, from the early 10th century, with the Byzantine advance into Armenia, adana followed in 758–760, and Tarsus in 787/8. Tarsus quickly became the largest settlement in the region and the Arabs most important base of operations against the Byzantines, counting between 4,000 and 5,000 troops in its garrison. Other important fortresses in Cilicia, which however were more than military outposts, were Ayn Zarba, al-Hārūniya, founded by Harun al-Rashid, Tall Gubair. These were complemented by smaller forts dotted across the Cilician plain, further fortresses of lesser importance in the Mesopotamian sector were Salaghus, Kaisum, Ḥiṣn Zibaṭra, Sumaisaṭ, Ḥiṣn Qalawdhiya and Ḥiṣn Ziyad. Some of the fortresses of the al-ʿAwāṣim province, like Dulūk or Cyrrhus, were also sometimes included in it. Further north, the isolated fortress towns of Qālīqalā and Kamacha formed the northern-most outposts of Muslim rule. The Thughūr al-Bakrīya included, according to Qudama ibn Jafar, Sumaisaṭ, Ḥānī, Malikyan, Gamah, Ḥaurān, the regular troops stationed there were favoured with lower taxes, higher pay and small land grants. In early Abbasid times these troops numbered some 25,000, half of them drawn from Khurasan and they were complemented by volunteers, drawn by the religious motivation of jihad against the Byzantines but often paid a salary by the state as well. All this entailed a heavy burden on the Abbasid government

Thughur
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Map of the Byzantine-Arab frontier zone in southeastern Asia Minor, with the major fortresses

44.
Nile Delta
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The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the worlds largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, from north to south the delta is approximately 160 kilometres in length. The Delta begins slightly down-river from Cairo, from north to south, the delta is approximately 160 kilometres in length. From west-to-east, it covers some 240 kilometres of coastline, the delta is sometimes divided into sections, with the Nile dividing into two main distributaries, the Damietta and the Rosetta, flowing into the Mediterranean at port cities with the same name. In the past, the delta had several distributaries, but these have been lost due to flood control, one such defunct distributary is Wadi Tumilat. The Suez Canal runs to the east of the delta, entering the coastal Lake Manzala in the north-east of the delta, to the north-west are three other coastal lakes or lagoons, Lake Burullus, Lake Idku and Lake Maryut. The Nile is considered to be a delta, as it resembles a triangle or flower when seen from above. The outer edges of the delta are eroding, and some coastal lagoons have seen increasing salinity levels as their connection to the Mediterranean Sea increases, topsoil in the delta can be as much as 70 feet in depth. People have lived in the Delta region for thousands of years, the Delta River used to flood on an annual basis, but this ended with the construction of the Aswan Dam. The Rosetta Stone was found in the Nile Delta in 1799 in the city of Rosetta. The delta was a constituent of Lower Egypt. The Biblical Land of Goshen was located in an area on the west bank of the Pelusiac distributary. There are many sites in and around the Nile Delta. About 39 million people live in the Delta region, outside of major cities, population density in the delta averages 1,000 persons/km² or more. Alexandria is the largest city in the delta with a population of more than 4.5 million. Other large cities in the delta include Shubra al Khaymah, Port Said, El-Mahalla El-Kubra, El Mansura, Tanta, during autumn, parts of the Nile River are red with lotus flowers. The Lower Nile and the Upper Nile have plants that grow in abundance, the Upper Nile plant is the Egyptian lotus, and the Lower Nile plant is the Papyrus Sedge, although it is not nearly as plentiful as it once was, and is becoming quite rare. Several hundred thousand birds winter in the delta, including the world’s largest concentrations of little gulls

45.
Fustat
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Fustat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. It was built by the Muslim general Amr ibn al-As immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD641, and featured the Mosque of Amr, the city reached its peak in the 12th century, with a population of approximately 200,000. It was the centre of power in Egypt, until it was ordered burnt in 1168 by its own vizier, Shawar. The area fell into disrepair for hundreds of years and was used as a rubbish dump, today, Fustat is part of Old Cairo, with few buildings remaining from its days as a capital. Many archaeological digs have revealed the wealth of buried material in the area, many ancient items recovered from the site are on display in Cairos Museum of Islamic Art. Fustat was the capital of Egypt for approximately 500 years, after the citys founding in 641, its authority was uninterrupted until 750, when the Abbasid dynasty staged a revolt against the Umayyads. This conflict was focused not in Egypt, but elsewhere in the Arab world, when the Abbasids gained power, they moved various capitals to more controllable areas. They had established the centre of their caliphate in Baghdad, moving the capital from its previous Umayyad location at Damascus, similar moves were made throughout the new dynasty. In Egypt, they moved the capital from Fustat slightly north to the Abbasid city of al-Askar, when the Tulunid dynasty took control in 868, the Egyptian capital moved briefly to another nearby northern city, Al-Qattai. This lasted only until 905, when Al-Qattai was destroyed and the capital was returned to Fustat, the city again lost its status as capital city when its own vizier, Shawar, ordered its burning in 1168. The capital of Egypt was ultimately moved to Cairo and his camp at that time was just north of the Roman fortress of Babylon. Amr declared the doves nest as a sign from God, the word Miṣr was an ancient Semitic root designating Egypt, but in Arabic also has the meaning of a large city or metropolis, so the name Miṣr al-Fusṭāṭ could mean Metropolis of the Tent. Fusṭāṭ Miṣr would mean The Pavilion of Egypt, egyptians to this day call Cairo Miṣr, or, colloquially, Maṣr, even though this is properly the name of the whole country of Egypt. The countrys first mosque, the Mosque of Amr, was built in 642 on the same site of the commanders tent. For thousands of years, the capital of Egypt was moved with different cultures through multiple locations up and down the Nile, such as Thebes and Memphis, depending on which dynasty was in power. After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt around 331 BC, the became the city named for him, Alexandria. This situation remained stable for nearly a thousand years, after the army of the Arabian Caliph Umar captured the region in the 7th century, shortly after the death of Muhammad, he wanted to establish a new capital. When Alexandria fell in September 641, Amr ibn al-As, the commander of the conquering army, the early population of the city was composed almost entirely of soldiers and their families, and the layout of the city was similar to that of a garrison

Fustat
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A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's History of Egypt
Fustat
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The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As. Though none of the original structure remains, this mosque was the first one built in Egypt, and it was around this location, at the site of the tent of the commander Amr ibn al-As, that the city of Fustat was built.
Fustat
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Lusterware Plate with Bird Motif, 11th century. Archaeological digs have found many kilns and ceramic fragments in Fustat, and it was likely an important production location for Islamic ceramics during the Fatimid period.
Fustat
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Indian textile fragment, circa 1545 – 1645, found in Fustat. Old, discarded textile fragments are commonly found in the area, preserved in the dry climate of Egypt.

46.
Copts
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The Copts are an ethno-religious group that primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination. Copts are also the largest Christian adherent group in Sudan and Libya, historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken during the Roman era. The Coptic language is a focus of Coptology and remains in liturgical use, Copts in Sudan constitute the largest Christian community in Sudan, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Sudanese population. Copts in Libya constitute the largest Christian community in Libya, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Libyan population, most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Coptic Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Catholic Church. The Coptic word is in turn an adaptation of the Greek term for the people of Egypt. The Greek term for Egypt, Aigýptos, is derived from the Egyptian language. This Mycenaean form is likely from Middle Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ, literally Estate of the Spirit of Ptah, the term is thus ultimately derived from the Greek designation of the native Egyptian population in Roman Egypt. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt, it restricted to those Egyptians adhering to the Christian religion. In Coptic Egyptian, the Copts referred to themselves as ni rem en kīmi en khristianos, which literally means Christian people of Egypt or Christian Egyptians. The Coptic name for Egyptians, rem en kīmi, is realized in the Fayyumic dialect as lem en kēmi, or rem en khēmi in the Bohairic dialect, cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ. The Arabic word qibṭ has also connected to the Greek name of the town of Coptos. It is possible that this association has contributed to making Copt the settled form of the name, in the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense. The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation state, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 10–20% of the population, though estimates vary. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was the first in a chain of patriarchs. The main body for 16 centuries has been out of communion with both the Roman Catholic Church and the various Eastern orthodox churches, the legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa, the Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest catechetical school in the world, however, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects, science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there

47.
Muslim conquest of Egypt
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At the commencement of the Muslim conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople. Before the Muslim conquest of Egypt had begun, the Byzantines had already lost the Levant and its Arab ally, all of this left the Byzantine Empire dangerously exposed and vulnerable. In December 639, Amr ibn al-As left for Egypt with a force of 4,000 troops, most of the soldiers belonged to the Arab tribe of Ak, although Al-Kindi mentions that one-third of the soldiers belonged to the Arab tribe of Ghafik. The Arab soldiers were joined by some Roman and Persian converts to Islam. However, Umar, the Muslim caliph, reconsidered his orders to Amr, accordingly, he wrote a letter to Amr commanding him to come back. The messenger, Uqbah ibn Amr, caught up with Amr at Rafah, guessing what might be in the letter, Amr ordered the army to quicken its pace. Turning to Uqbah, Amr said that he would receive the letter from him when the army had halted after the days journey. Uqbah, being unaware of the contents of the letter, agreed and marched along with the army, the army halted for the night at Shajratein, a little valley near the city of El Arish, which Amr knew to be beyond the Egyptian border. Amr then received and read Umars letter and went on to consult his companions as to the course of action to be adopted, the unanimous view was that as they had received the letter on Egyptian soil, they had permission to proceed. When Umar received the reply, he decided to further developments. On Eid al-Adha, the Muslim army marched from Shajratein to El Arish, the town put up no resistance, and the citizens offered allegiance on the usual terms. The Muslim soldiers celebrated the Eid festival there, in the later part of December 639 or in early January 640, the Muslim army reached Pelusium, an Eastern Roman garrison city that was considered Egypts eastern gate at the time. The Muslim siege of the town dragged on for two months, in February 640, an assault group led by a prominent field commander Huzaifah ibn Wala successfully assaulted and captured the fort and city. Armanousa, the daughter of Cyrus who fiercely resisted the Muslims in Pelusium, the losses incurred by the Arab Muslim army were ameliorated by the number of Sinai Bedouins who, taking the initiative, had joined them in conquering Egypt. After the fall of Pelusium, the Muslims marched to Bilbeis,40 miles from Memphis via desert roads, Belbeis was the first place in Egypt where the Byzantines showed some measure of resistance towards the Arab conquerors. Two Christian monks accompanied by Cyrus of Alexandria and the famous Roman general Aretion came out to negotiate with Amr ibn al-As, Aretion was previously the Byzantine governor of Jerusalem, and had fled to Egypt when the city fell to the Muslims. Amr gave them three options, to convert to Islam, to pay Jizya, or to fight the Muslims. They requested three days to reflect, then—as mentioned by al-Tabari—requested two extra days, at the end of the five days, the two monks and the general decided to reject Islam and Jizya and fight the Muslims

48.
Cilician Gates
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The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m, the Cilician Gates have been a major commercial and military artery for millennia. In the early 20th century, a railway was built through them, and today. The southern end of the Cilician gates is about 44 km north of Tarsus, yumuktepe, which guards the Adana side of the gateway, with 23 layers of occupation, is at 4,500 BCE, one of the oldest fortified settlements in the world. The ancient pathway was a track for mule caravans, not wheeled vehicles, in ancient history the Hittites, Greeks, Alexander the Great, the Romans, Mongols, and the Crusaders have all traveled this route during their campaigns. The Bible testifies that Saint Paul of Tarsus and Silas went this way as they went through Syria and Cilicia, the distance from the Anatolian plateau to the Cilician plain is about 110 kilometres. In ancient times this was a journey of five days. Saint Paul spoke, according to the Bible, about being in dangers from rivers and dangers from robbers and this may explain why at 4,500 BCE, at the southeastern end of the Cilician Gates was one of the worlds first existing fortresses. The Crusaders allied themselves with the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and its circuit walls and towers at the south and west cover a distance of over 450 meters. Also in the vicinity of the Gates is a built in the 1830s by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt during his Syrian campaign against the Ottomans. When German engineers were working on the Baghdad Railway between Istanbul and Baghdad, they were unable to follow the steep-pitched, narrow, and tightly winding ancient track through the Gates. The railroad was opened in 1918, the working line moved Ottoman troops. Battle of the Cilician Gates Cilicia Cilicia Gülek Caspian Gates Livius. org, Cilician Gate Railroad engineering through the Cilician Gates

Cilician Gates
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Gülek Pass

49.
Tyana
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Tyana or Tyanna was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern Kemerhisar, Niğde Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom in the 1st millennium BC, Tyana is the city referred to in Hittite archives as Tuwanuwa. During the Hittite Empire period in mid 2nd millennium, Tuwanuwa was among the settlements of the region along with Hupisna, Landa, Sahasara, Huwassana. This south-central Anatolian region was referred to as the Lower Land in Hittite sources, following the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tuwanuwa/Tuwana was a major city of the independent Neo-Hittite kingdoms. It is not certain whether or not it was subject to the Tabal kingdom to its north. He figures in several hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions found in the region, Warpalawa is also mentioned in Assyrian texts, under the name Urballa, first in a list of tributees of Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III and later in a letter of Sargon II. Warpalawa was probably succeeded by his son Muwaharani whose name appears in another monument found in Niğde. In Greek legend, the city was first called Thoana because Thoas, xenophon mentions it in his book Anabasis, under the name of Dana, as a large and prosperous city. The surrounding plain was known after it as Tyanitis and it is the reputed birthplace of the celebrated philosopher Apollonius of Tyana in the first century AD. Ovid places the tale of Baucis and Philemon in the vicinity, according to Strabo the city was known also as Eusebeia at the Taurus. Under Roman Emperor Caracalla, the city became Antoniana colonia Tyana, in 372, Emperor Valens split the province of Cappadocia in two, and Tyana became the capital and metropolis of Cappadocia Secunda. In Late Antiquity, the city was known as Christoupolis. Consequently, the city was targeted by Muslim raids. The city was first sacked by the Umayyads after a siege in 708. It was then occupied by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in 806, Harun began converting the city into a military base and even erected a mosque there, but evacuated it after the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I bought a peace. The city was taken and razed by the Abbasids under Al-Abbas ibn al-Mamun in 831. The city fell into decline after 933, as the Arab threat receded, the ruins of Tyana are at modern Kemerhisar, three miles south of Niğde, there are remains of a Roman aqueduct and of cave cemeteries and sepulchral grottoes. As noted, in 372 Emperor Valens created the province of Cappadocia Secunda and this aroused a violent controversy between Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana, and St. Basil of Caesarea, each of whom wished to have as many suffragan sees as possible

Tyana
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The Roman aqueduct of Tyana

50.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis

Constantinople
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Constantinople in the Byzantine era
Constantinople
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Map of Byzantine Constantinople
Constantinople
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Emperor Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic. Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantinople
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Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople